A Better Path
by RegalCarnage19
Summary: Life is filled with choices, good or bad you just have to make a call and live with the consequences as best you can. Who would have thought a little leap of faith would lead to this. (First story so starts off a bit shaky but gets better in later chapters) (Harem)
1. Chapter 1

Konoha, The Village Hidden in the Leaves and arguably the strongest of the hidden villages, lay in shambles. Not at the ambitions of a rival nation, or the chaos of any internal conflict, but at the hand of nature itself or rather an entity capable of such power and raw destruction that the wrath of nature would be the only suitable comparison.

The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Kyuubi bared down upon the village every twitch of its tails cut the air, every step it took cracked the earth at its feet, fangs the size of small houses shone in the moonlight as the beast tore through the village.

Warriors, Shinobi raced to meet the beast with the hope of slowing it down perhaps even repelling it, foolish as it was to challenge the strongest of the tailed beasts, this was their home and they would defend it.

Searing fire rained down upon the body of the beast illuminating the village with their flames, the beast growled and swung its paw swatting the offending shinobi like flys.

Pillars of jagged earth rose from the rubble impaling the demon's legs, it merely roared in annoyance, the force tossing all around it to the winds or into nearby debris.

Arcs of lightning slammed into the beast's maw with the fury of gods, it merely belched a rain of crimson fire in return, consuming all in its path.

Slaughter.

This was not a fight, this was unquestionable slaughter and the simple truth was Konoha would not survive, not if this beast had anything to say about it.

"Minato hurry we can't take much more of this." Whispered Sarutobi Hiruzen garbed in his wartime combat armor and adamantine staff in hand. The God of Shinobi could only watch as his village lay ruin at the hands of the raging demon.

Leaping into the air he summoned a giant shuriken and launched it at the Nine-Tails before flashing through hand signs "Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

One suddenly became one hundred as the deadly storm of steel hit its mark and sliced into the Kyuubi who roared in fury at the sudden assault.

Turning to meet and quickly end whatever dared attack it, the Kyuubi was caught by surprise as its head was forced down. The cause, the staff resting in Sarutobi's arms, even a being like the Kyuubi had to feel the pain of a weapon as hard as diamond getting acquainted with its skull.

If the situation were not so dire the aged Kage might have felt some pride in forcing the strongest of the Tailed Beasts to bow, granted not of its own will but he would take what he could get.

That line of thought, however, was interrupted by a tail speedily making its way towards him, only decades of combat experience allowed the God of Shinobi to propel himself away in time to avoid becoming yet another casualty.

"I'm much too old for this, fighting demons is a young man's game" The Professor growled to himself watching as the demon shook off his attack and refocused on the village. To his horror, however, it looked like the Nine-Tails had enough playing around.

Jaws to the sky all nearby shinobi and civilians were forced to stop as watch as slowly a black mass of dense chakra began to form in front of the beast, those who could sense chakra fell to despair at the raw power radiating off the mass, and those who could only feel the ambient chakra felt their hairs stand on end at the sight, the air itself tasted of death as the mass stabilized forming a sphere.

The Kyuubi moved to swallow the mass, the prelude to the signature and most destructive techniques available to the Tailed Beasts, the move that would signal the end of Konohagakure.

Or at least it would have. "Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique" rang out through the air accompanied by a billow of smoke before to the shock and joy and of the people a Toad slammed down upon the body of the Kyuubi interrupting it.

"Eh? Where am I?" The booming voice of the Toad rang out

"Oi! Minato where are you and don't you dare tell me you summoned me on top of the fucking Kyuubi no Kitsune!" The Toad hollered.

"Hehe sorry Bunta but it was out of my hands" Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage and Yellow Flash of the Leaf hastily apologized.

"Bunta I need you to keep it busy just for a bit while I have a plan but I need some time to prepare." Says Minato as he eyed the demon as it finally freed itself from underneath the toad boss.

"Why do we get the troublesome summoners?" The toad boss grumbles but nodded drawing the blade attached to his hip and hopping up to by time for his summoner.

"I have to make this quick." Glancing down at the bundle nestled in the crook of his arm the young Hokage couldn't help but smile at the small baby resting in his arms, his son.

"There is only one way to stop this beast, and only one way to ensure you'll have a trump card against what's to come."

The thought gave the man some small measure of comfort, it was not everyday one had to damn a child, their own child no less to the fate of carrying a tailed beast.

Flashing through hand seals the Minato Namikaze cast the last technique of his career as Hokage and of his life.

* * *

Sarutobi sighed as he looked over the reports in his office, retaking the mantle of Hokage after the untimely death of his successor.

"You had so much waiting for you Minato your students, your friends…" The aged man Glanced sadly towards the crib next to his desk

"Your family..." He whispered.

Getting up the aged kage made his way towards the crib situated inside his office, taking in its babbling occupant with weary eyes.

A baby with a small tuft of golden hair and sky blue eyes and whiskered cheeks squirmed within, his innocent eyes greedily taking in all this new world had to offer.

"So active for one so young I'm almost sure you'll be a troublemaker, it's in your blood after all." The old man allowed himself a chuckle thinking back on a young redhead terrorizing the village with her pranks.

"Naruto Uzumaki" Hiruzen muttered he seemed to age the more he looked at the boy, a day old orphan with a demon of raw hate and malice tucked away inside him.

Life could be so unfair.

He gently poked the boy's stomach, tracing the outline of the seal and earning him a cute burble from the child lifting his spirits somewhat. With all the death it was refreshing to see the brighter side of the world.

A knock at the door broke the man's focus.

"The Council is assembled sir they are ready for you." The soft voice of his secretary informed him.

Giving a quick affirmative the aged kage gently scooped the baby boy into his arms.

"Well young one lets not keep them waiting." He whispered.

As he made his way towards the council chambers the weary kage could only hope the trust his successor had placed in the village proved worth his sacrifice.

* * *

A nightmare.

If you asked Naruto Uzumaki what he thought of Konoha his first response would be it's a living nightmare.

The general populous despised Naruto Uzumaki, and those few that did not outright hate the boy were either too wary of him to offer any real aid or ambivalent to his plight. Why the young blond did not know, no other children were looked at the same way he was, no parents whisked their kids away when other children appeared, it was always him and him alone.

He had tried hard to fit in, throwing on his biggest smile, dressing his best or at least the best he could afford to, and being as polite as a five-year-old could be, but in the end, it meant little to people of Konoha.

He sighed staring at the four blank walls of his room, other children had decorations or pictures they had draw lining their walls. For a time he had them as well, pictures of him surrounded by friends, a few with what he thought his parents may have looked like. He took them down though, they only made the isolation feel worse.

With a grunt, the young boy turned to face the window and stare into the night sky. Despite his bright traits, the boy had always felt at peace under the glow of the moon and stars, away from the glares and whispers and happy families.

He got up and walked over to the window taking in the village despite it all he still thought the village itself was beautiful, the people much less so but it was his home and on some level, he cared for it.

He caught sight of a few jumping shadows, ninja, back from missions or setting out on tasks. He watched in awe as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop. Like most children, Naruto wanted nothing more than to be a ninja and it was hard not to, the power, in the eyes of a child, was just amazing.

"One day I'm going to be the greatest ninja in the world" He whispered to himself

Watching the last of the shadows fade from sight the boy gave a nod to himself, he would become the greatest and the world would respect his name.

Settling back into bed he slowly drifted off to sleep, his promise quietly echoing in his head.

* * *

The first day into his promise the boy had hit a small snag in his plans.

"I don't know the first thing about being a ninja!" He cried out to himself.

Oh sure he knew they were sneaky and could jump high but that couldn't be all there was to it and even if that were true he had no base to work with, where did he even start?

He racked his brain for a solution, he needed the basics at least! He couldn't reach his goals if he didn't understand what he needed to focus on.

Naruto took a few breaths and calmed himself something he'd learned helped him relax when under the glares of adults or the teasing of his fellow orphans, the punishments for acting out were much worse than dealing with a few cold looks or some jeering.

Information. He needed a baseline to get him started and the only place he could think of was Konoha's Central Library.

He had never actually been there before, he'd passed by it plenty of times but never felt the need to enter it. The library was located near the center of the village not too far from the market district.

With his goal in mind, the young boy raced to the library ignoring the usual looks the villagers sent his way they weren't important at the moment.

Finally arriving at his destination he took a moment to stop and compose himself. He didn't know what kind of reception he would get here and it wouldn't help to go in without thinking.

Once he was sure he had cooled down enough he slowly entered the building and was rather disappointed by how plain it was, rows and rows of books stretched across the walls but there was nothing spectacular about it.

Walking further in he found himself in front of a desk with a young woman facing away from him stacking books onto a cart.

Taking a moment to ready himself for whatever response he might receive Naruto steadied himself with a small breath and coughed into his fist to get her attention.

The woman gave a slight gasp dropping the book in her hand onto the floor. Quietly cursing to herself she quickly picked it and whirled around to the source of the noise.

She was a rather plain woman he noted to himself, she reminded him of the matrons at the orphanage. Plain black hair was done up in the popular hime style framed a similar pair of jet black eyes hidden behind a thin pair of black rimmed glasses. Her thin lips stuck out in a pout, probably due to her surprise at his interruption.

"-ello there?" Her soft voice cut his appraisal short and he quickly brought his gaze back up to meet hers.

"S-Sorry!" He cursed his inattention.

He could see her quietly giggling to herself at his embarrassment making it his turn to pout.

Seeing this the young woman managed to calm her laughter and addressed him once more

"Apologies, I did not mean to embarrass you" She bowed slightly towards him.

Straightening herself out she addressed him once more "My name is Amagi Nara, current head of the Konoha Library." She finished a hint of pride in her tone before looking to him for introductions.

Naruto hesitated, those who did not know him by appearance did know him by name and very rarely did encounters remain friendly once his identity came up. He debated lying but shook that thought away he would be here often if this went well and he couldn't take the chance of his lie blowing up in his face later.

Steeling himself and putting on his soon to be signature grin he replied.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, future badass ninja!" He proclaimed.

Amagi regarded the boy critically as he introduced himself with a grin so wide it forced his eyes closed. She knew exactly who he was she was a Nara after all librarian or not, she was also old enough to remember the attack and the 3rd's decree regarding just what this boy truly was.

The real question was why was he here? She may have only recently inherited the head position but she had frequented the library for years and had never seen the boy step foot inside the building.

Focusing back on the child in front of her she raised an eyebrow with a small smirk "Oh really, well then what is a future badass ninja doing inside my library?"

A rather direct question she would admit but in her defense, he was a young child she doubted he would find her interest particularly suspicious.

Naruto's grin seemed to grow even wider at her positive tone, he had been fully prepared for a scowl or even a threat but this lady had proved him wrong.

Snapping back to attention Naruto looked back up to her with hopeful eyes, if she wasn't going to throw him out maybe she would help him.

"I want to learn how to become a ninja and thought maybe I could find some stuff here that'll help." He rubbed the back of his head in slight embarrassment.

Let it be known Naruto did not like asking for anything, either because of his own pride or the constant rejection he faced at the village's hand forcing a higher level of independence upon him.

"Hmm, books on being a ninja eh..." Amagi rubbed her chin in thought at his answer.

They, of course, had books on the fundamentals of almost every shinobi art barring the more dangerous arts such as sealing, which required granted access by the Hokage or Jounin to be given to civilians or younger ninja.

The real question was, should she help him or turn him away? She was not blinded by hate or anger Kami no she had a basic understanding of sealing arts and knew the boy and the fox are separate entities and to blame the boy would be both cruel and foolish.

No, her reservation came in what he would do with knowledge, and with knowledge eventually power. A boy shunned for reasons he is not aware of being given access to skills designed to kill, at face value was a recipe for disaster no one should even indulge.

Her mind raced with possible outcomes, while he might not be the demon himself could the fox perhaps influence him to aim his newfound skills against the populace? Should the seal fail could the fox take over the boys body and in turn gain access to the skills he had acquired? Sure there were other ways he could acquire the information, the academy sprung to mind but he would not qualify to enter for at least two years. Two years he would spend ignorant and untrained.

However, she also acknowledged that delaying his quest now could result in a similar problem. The boy denied the chance to chase his dreams on top of being arguably the most disliked person in the village would make him more susceptible to outside influence be it a demon fox promising revenge or a foreign ninja offering the chance of a better life. Either option almost guaranteed a new threat to the village.

She looked back down at the young boy, eyes filled with hope, determination, and excitement but looking deeper revealed to her fear, sadness, and insecurity.

Amagi has a choice to make.

Leave the boy alone, open to anyone willing to give the boy a modicum of attention or help leaving his and possibly the entire village's fate to the winds.

Or, guide the boy handing him the tools to become a trained killer but aiming them away from the village.

Choice made.

Walking out from behind the desk Amagi rubbed the boys head, inwardly noting the blush creeping along his face and the shocked look he tried to hide from her at the contact.

Definitely the right choice.

"Come along Naruto-kun I believe we do have some texts on beginner level shinobi exercises and techniques. Let's see if we can find what you are looking for yeah?" She smiled down upon him offering a small measure of support.

Naruto would fondly remember that moment in the future, the first time someone had truly acknowledge him and the first time the problems in his life, just for a moment, seemed a bit smaller.

* * *

**AN. So this is a thing sorry if it is paced or written strangely this is my first go at writing in this style and I'm certain it shows so please go somewhat easy on me.**

**-Update-**

**Hello and thank you for taking the time out to read this story, I am going back and updating a lot of the authors notes to clarify some stuff so that you all as readers have a better understanding of where this story is going and choices that are being made since I have deleted a lot of old authors notes that fill out some gaps in my writing.**

**Like this chapter says this was my first time writing in the style of a fic and looking back it really shows and unfortunately I do not have the time to go back and rewrite the early chapters but I do promise things get better! (You can read the reviews obviously as proof of that I think) The early chapters were written very close together so some mistakes remain consistent but I have gotten better at reading through and correcting so if you do plan to read on I think it will level out.**

**As a note, the bottom ANs are very important if you need extra context and for explaining future story choices so please do read them before you review because you may find an answer to your criticism or question that satisfies you. If not then please review away or PM me always happy to talk about the story.**

**I do hope you will come to enjoy the story and if not that's okay and I thank you for taking the time out read it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but I still hope you enjoy the story!**

**Thank you reading up to this second chapter, if you read the updated authors note then you'll know I'm going back and adding a bit more context for new readers so that they know what to expect since this story was initially never supposed to get more than the first chapter as a sort of trial run. (As of writing this the 19th official chapter has just gone up)**

**I want to be upfront now that this is a slow burn kind of fic to start because I didn't really know how I wanted to pace everything and I started off with shorter chapters and heavy detail, this changes in the future (especially after graduation) but if you continue to read and are concerned at the pace things seem to be moving that is why. I do talk about that at the end but obviously past me didn't know how slow it was going to get lol.**

**Still, I hope you enjoy this chapter and the future ones as well!**

* * *

Naruto sat quietly as Amagi seemed to glide from bookshelf to bookshelf grabbing books as she went with an almost inhuman grace to her movement.

He didn't think a librarian could move like that.

He watched as she would open every book and briefly skim its contents before either putting in the growing pile she had set up for him or returning it to its proper place shaking her head and moving onto the next shelf.

Taking his attention away from her for the moment, Naruto inspected the collection of books she had picked and saw quite a few promising texts within the pile: "Taijutsu 101", "Ninjutsu for Dummies", and "Beginners Guide to Strategy" among a few others.

"That should be enough for now" He heard her mutter.

Amagi's voice shook him out of his thoughts and he looked up to find her standing beside him, admiring the rather sizable collection of scrolls, texts, and books.

"Um, Amagi-san isn't this a bit much?" He questioned with a highly concerned look on his face.

There were at least ten books in this pile not to mention the four scrolls he saw curled up next to them. He was eager to learn but he had no clue how he was going to get through all these!

Amagi laughed quietly at the look of dread on the boys face at the prospect of all the reading he might have to do. She could appreciate a good book but everyone had limits, especially children.

"You won't be reading all of these Naruto-kun" she giggled. "Not unless you want to of course?"

Naruto quickly shook his head in negative.

"Thought so." She pulled up a chair and sat herself next to him.

She looked once again at the pile, truthfully he would probably go through most of these books regardless but she wanted to give him a chance to see what would be in store for him in the future.

His curious gaze broke her out of her thoughts.

"Um, if I don't need them all why did you bring them out?" He questioned

She smiled at him and replied, "Because Naruto if you are going to be a good ninja you need to find your focus."

"My focus?" He tilted his head in confusion.

"Your focus." She reaffirmed "What shinobi arts are you going to specialize in."

Naruto frowned, "Can't I specialize in everything?"

He wanted to be the best ninja, obviously, the best ninja was supposed to be good at everything, right?

Amagi shook her head "If you could live forever maybe you could but you are only human Naruto-kun and you can only master so many things in a lifetime."

Stray thoughts of the rumors surrounding a certain snake-like traitor crossed her mind before being quickly suppressed, there was no room to back down now she had made her choice to help the boy, comparing him to that monster served no purpose other than to feed her own fears.

She could tell Naruto seemed unconvinced by his squinted eyes and determined pout. She might have found it cute if he wasn't being a bit stubborn.

"Naruto-kun do you have a favorite Hokage?" She asked him suddenly

The question took the boy by surprise but he recovered quickly and answered.

"Yeah, The Fourth Hokage was the best he's my favorite!" He proclaimed excitedly bouncing a little in his seat thinking of his hero.

What other kage could claim to have single-handedly defeated the strongest tailed beast? To Naruto's limited knowledge no one else so that means the Fourth was clearly the best!

Amagi shook her head at the answer but it was hardly surprising most of the younger generation looked up to the Fourth seeing as he was the most recent and arguably most notorious shinobi of his generation.

"Do you think he was good at everything?" She questioned.

Naruto, as expected, rapidly nodded his head in affirmative.

Amagi bopped him gently on the head.

"Incorrect." she said.

"Eh? What do you mean? wouldn't he have to be good at everything to be made Hokage?" The young boy questioned softly rubbing the spot where she tapped him.

Amagi shook her head and clarified.

"Yes," she began "The Fourth was an indeed an extremely talented and intelligent Shinobi, his skill was unquestionable but he was not great at everything." she lectured.

"Oh yeah, what wasn't he good at then?" He challenged, still not one hundred percent convinced his idol could not excel at everything.

"The Fourth is fittingly well known for four traits specifically." She held up four fingers for emphasis "The first being his intelligence, the second his natural speed, the third his talent at jutsu creation, and lastly his mastery of sealing arts."

Seeing him following along she smiled slightly at his willingness to learn a rare thing to see in children so young. She moved to continue.

"I'm sure you noticed nowhere in that list did you hear me mention him having talent in any other ninja arts like Genjutsu, Kenjutsu, Bukijutsu, or Iryo Ninjutsu"

Naruto's eyes widened a bit, he was not even aware of just how many ninja arts there were to learn or that his idol did not even seem to use half of them!

She continued "The Fourth was competent in some of these arts but by no means was he a master of everything." she finished.

Naruto sat thinking on her words, he supposed it made sense, but still hearing your hero wasn't amazing at everything was slightly off-putting for a kid to hear

He supposed mastering everything was a bit too much to ask for in hindsight now the Amagai had explained it.

Noticing his downtrodden expression Amagi ruffled his hair again, once again earning a healthy blush from the boy but no complaints at the gesture.

Starved for positive physical attention she mentally noted. She could only sigh at the walking disaster her village had created, the boy was putty in her hands and he had met her this morning for Kami's sake!

Shaking off those thoughts she spoke up again.

"Its nothing to be upset about, after all, if the Fourth became Hokage without mastering everything than what is stopping you from becoming a strong ninja in a similar fashion?"

Naruto nodded his head following her reasoning.

Better to be a master of three skills than average at five and if the Fourth could become a legend with only a few arts under his cloak than so could he damn it!

This revelation brought forth a question though, what would he focus on? He clearly wasn't aware of every single ninja art so how could he choose and what if he chose skills that didn't fit him?

Seeing the boy in front of her frowning at this thoughts Amagi decided to help him out a bit, she wouldn't tell him what to study that was his choice and his alone but she could guide him a little.

"Naruto-kun" She called out bringing his attention back to her. "Would you like some help in finding what suits you?"

Naruto nodded grateful for any assistance his new friend, internally he hoped she was his friend, could offer.

Reaching into the pile Amagi pulled out two books and placed them before him.

The first book was rather unremarkable in appearance a bit worn signifying either old age or frequent use, perhaps both, and a plain faded white hardcover.

"Beginners Guide to the Ninja Arts by Sarutobi Hiruzen" Was printed along the cover in black text. Simple and to the point.

The author sounded familiar to Naruto but he put that thought away in the back of his mind and looked to the second book she had placed before him.

The second book was much smaller than the first and much more worn. Similar to the first book at first glance it was unremarkable, it didn't even have any text on the cover nor an author just a black covering that was faded in some spots with the passing of time.

A short cough brought his attention back to his companion.

Seeing that she had recaptured his gaze Amagi clarified her selections.

"The first book is rather obvious, a rundown on almost all the known shinobi talents and their uses" She decided not to mention it was missing the forbidden or banned arts, she didn't need the boy deciding he wanted to master forbidden jutsu after all.

"The second book," She grabbed the small black book in her hand and held it up "Is an older copy of what's known as a Bingo book."

"Bingo book?" Naruto asked in confusion

"A Bingo book," she began to explain "Is a book designed to make note of famous or rather infamous shinobi and Kunoichi throughout the Elemental Nations listing some of their skills, allegiances, known allies, pretty much anything that can be found out about them really."

Naruto looked at the little book with much more interest now but that still begged the question, why was she giving him a Bingo book?

Seeing his confused expression she sighed a bit to herself before explaining.

"The Bingo book contains a list of ninja from ALL villages Naruto, not just Konoha. Every village has its own tricks and unique shinobi that tend to use different arts, arts you might find interesting enough to pursue." She explained.

She swore she could almost see an actual light bulb flicker on in his mind.

Naruto had caught onto her meaning, coming to the library showed him just how little he really knew about being a ninja.

It was a bit embarrassing honestly but at least he had a better idea now than when he first walked in. He swore he would make sure to be better informed from here on!

Moving past his embarrassment he glanced back down at the Bingo book and replayed what Amagi had told him. If true then he could learn about styles not even found in his village, he could be truly unique!

Grinning he turned back to face Amagi newfound determination in his gaze, he was going to become the greatest ninja the village had ever seen that was his promise of a lifetime!

Seeing the light in his eyes Amagi couldn't help but offer him a cheery smile "Looks like he's almost ready to start on his path" she thought to herself.

She wondered where it would take him.

Grabbing the two books as she stood she addressed him once more.

"Naruto-kun let's get these two books checked out for you, I'll store the rest away until you have need of them" She informed him.

He nodded and moved to follow after her taking care to put back a few of the scrolls he'd been glancing at while he was waiting for her.

Making their way to the desk she Amagi noted down the two texts before handing them over to the boy in a small bag.

"Not I don't think I need to ask this but you'll take good care of those books, won't you Naruto-kun?" She asked him a gentle smile.

Naruto was not the sharpest child but he could have sworn he saw the nearby shadows twitching behind her.

He rapidly nodded, how could she be so scary with a smile?!

Laughing quietly to herself she rested her hand gently upon his head, running her fingers through the untamed but oddly soft mass of golden spikes.

"I'm putting my faith in you then, don't let me down" She smiled down at him again this one without any malice.

Naruto looked down at the floor, her words and gestures sent an unfamiliar but not unwelcome feeling through his chest he wasn't sure what it was but he reveled in it nonetheless committing the warmth to memory.

He met her eyes once more and gave the largest grin he could fit on his childish face and spoke.

"I won't, that's a promise and Naruto Uzumaki never breaks a promise!" He proclaimed.

"An honest ninja huh?" Amagai mused to herself.

Not the most practical she admitted but couldn't shake the feeling this boy would be something great one day.

"Well then get to it Naruto you still have a long way to go and its getting late." She gestured to the window to left showing off the setting sun.

Seeing the time Naruto's face fell a bit. He had wanted to begin training today but knew better than to wander alone at night through the village it wasn't safe.

At least not for him anyway.

Shaking that thought away he turned to face her and nodded again securing the bag and his new books in hand he made his way towards the building's exit stopping right before the doors.

He turned to see his new friend one last time, fond memories of their day together filling his mind.

The first day in his entire life he didn't have to spend truly alone.

He gave a megawatt grin and waved to her, his grin widened seeing her return the gesture with a smirk and wave of her own.

He decided he loved the library.

Racing out he cut through alleyways and secret paths he had found in his solo explorations of the village arriving at his tiny apartment in record time, he was eager to start reading, after all, once he found a style that suited him he could begin his training!

Rushing into his room he dove onto his bed and set out his new books in front of him he took a moment to decide where he should start first before settling on the white book first.

Probably better to actually understand all the arts before trying to make any real choices.

Setting the book down in his lap the young boy would spend the rest of the evening reading, taking small notes here and there when something caught his eye or he had questions to look back on during his future trips to visit the library.

He'd fall asleep two hours later with a smile on his face and notes littering his bed.

* * *

**AN. Chapter 2 done I wanna give my reasoning for some of the story stuff going on.**

**The pace: Is this going to be a slow burn kind of story?**

**I'm working on this in my mind at the moment, a lot of stories I've read either go too quickly ie Naruto goes to the library as a child in one chapter, the next its been 4 years and he's around low jounin in strength with like 30 jutsu right out of the academy.**

**Or, they go really slow and we spend 9 long chapters in his childhood with no real development in favor of fleshing out characters rather than the world and its mysteries (not that I mind that but I think balance is important)**

**These early chapters are slow to somewhat illustrate the challenge and learning process that would go into something like becoming an actual ninja but will pick up as those skills start being built.**

**Amagi: Why an OC?**

**it just worked really well to make her more than some bog standard librarian that does nothing (like how I had initially planned her to be) I can use her to add more depth to the story and create more character interactions. She isn't a self-insert (not a fan of those) just her own character.**

**More OCs?: I will try and keep them to a minimum I still want this to be Naruto and the cast will primarily be kept to the existing cast, OCs will be mainly for random missions or background characters with some taking a prominent role but not often so no worries there.**

**"Um, Actually": Look stop its been a while since I've watched/read Naruto (I did finish it but that was years ago) so yes if a term is wrong or used wrong I apologize and will endeavor to fix it so just a heads up.**

**Thank you all for reading hope you are enjoying it I'm having fun writing though I have a newfound appreciation for fic writers who do longer chapters, my god, haha. Let me know how you are feeling like it, hate it, despise it let me know I can only critique my writing so much.**

**See you next time!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, that is all carry-on.**

**I also want to apologize for the last chapter having a few more spelling and writing mistakes than I was comfortable with, I was excited to release a new chapter and didn't look it over as much as I did the first chapter which I had laying around for months tweaking it here and there before I published it. I will work to edit more carefully with future chapters!**

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Naruto blearily took in his surroundings upon waking slowly recalling the events of the previous day and his late night reading binge. Perhaps staying up all night wasn't the smartest strategy.

The joys of hindsight.

He turned to his right and thankfully it seems he had enough sense to neatly tuck his new books away before losing consciousness, Amagi's silent threat still lingered and he didn't know what she would do if he had ruined them less than a day after letting him borrow them.

Kami forbid he ever finds out just thinking about it made his body involuntarily shiver.

Shaking off those worrying though he gave a large yawn and with a quick stretch, he made his way out of bed and began his daily morning routine wash up, brush teeth, and make ramen.

Simple and efficient for a five-year-old kid.

Beginning his rituals the boy couldn't help but go over what he'd learned during his reading last night, having made it halfway through the first book he had covered most of the more popular and quirky ninja arts included and now had a fair grasp of the different techniques found throughout the continent.

The book had spent the most time on the three most popular style of jutsu being ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu seeing as most ninja's skill sets would include at least two of these three arts.

Ninjutsu, as the book described it was best suited for more destructive and ranged offensive fighting, though it was noted there were plenty of defensive ninjutsu as well and one could become a walking fortress with the proper arsenal of techniques. Regarded as the most popular branch of jutsu for its inherently flashy nature and pure power a ninjutsu specialist was not one to be underestimated.

Taijutsu, the second most popular branch encompassed hand to hand combat and the enhancement of the body. This brach while listed as second in popularity is arguably the most used branch as close quarter combat was simply an inevitability in the world of ninja, simply put everyone needed to know how to fight and taijutsu masters were no less fearsome than their ninjutsu wielding counterparts, maybe even more so.

Lastly, genjutsu, the most obscure of the three major arts but no less lethal in the right hands was the art of illusions and misdirection. Used to distract and disorient enemies genjutsu is a favorite among those who lack much physical power and instead opt for finesse to engage opponents, striking while they have their guard lowered or leading them into traps. Master of genjutsu are not popularly known, but who is to that that isn't intentional given their natural affinity towards deception and hiding.

Already he had a lot to consider and that was just the major three the book covered many different styles and approaches many of which he would never have even considered.

Who even thought up fighting with human-sized puppets anyway? Suna, apparently according to the book.

That also brought him to another very important piece of information the book hard imparted upon him. The knowledge of the very lifeforce of all living creatures.

Chakra.

A mix of physical and spiritual energy, it was the catalyst that enabled the use of most shinobi techniques and augmentation on top of its arguably more important function.

Keeping its users alive.

The book had stressed that chakra was not infinite and if too much was used without the chance to recover a user could very well die. Essentially the reason all children weren't taught to breath fire at people was the chance of chakra exhaustion.

That and giving a bunch of temperamental brats fire breath was an awful idea anyway.

Moving on from his more morbid thoughts Naruto returned to the question at hand. He still needed more information, finishing up in the bathroom he made his back into his bedroom and grabbed the two books carrying them back to the kitchen where he could make breakfast and go over the second half of the guide book.

For once he was okay with the three-minute wait on ramen. Just this one time though.

While he waited he skimmed through the second half of the book and found it was mostly comprised of bits of advice for the various branches of jutsu and warnings for the more dangerous or obscure techniques.

Essentially useless until he figured out exactly what he wanted to learn.

Sighing to himself he closed the book and pushed it away for the time being he could come back to it later. Moving his attention to the second book Naruto felt a bit of excitement come over him at the thought of viewing strong and famous shinobi from other countries. He wondered if any of them could compare to the Fourth?

Quickly, but carefully opening the book the young blond was immediately met with a picture of a rather unassuming brown-haired man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties. He was garbed in a maroon long sleeved shirt and baggy black pants, at his hip Naruto could make out the handle of some form of a blade but couldn't tell exactly what kind from the picture alone. Around his neck rested a headband with the symbol of what appeared to be rocks etched onto a metal plate.

Beneath the photo, an overview offered some more insight.

_Name: Akashi Ginza_

_Alias: "The Iron Ninja"_

_Age: 25_

_Affiliation: Iwakagure_

_Rank: Chunin_

_Status: Alive_

Info: Extremely proficient in Iwakagure's signature enhancement technique "Iron Shell" that hardens the user's skin equal to the amount of Chakra used, Ginza has built a reputation as one of the village's most sturdy ninja being near impervious to traditional weaponry and taijutsu. Average in earth style ninjutsu and taijutsu and slightly above average in kenjutsu Ginza focuses more on outlasting his opponents than outmaneuvering them.

Threat level: High C-rank to low B-rank

Naruto made a mental note to thank Amagi for suggesting this book, one page in and he was already hooked! This guy was no Yellow Flash sure, but the idea of being almost immune to damage was still pretty cool in his eyes.

He also made note of his skills, earth ninjutsu and kenjutsu. The guide mentioned Chakra could take the form of five primary elements those being earth, water, fire, wind, and lightning respectively each having a weakness and strength against one of the other elements creating a sort of balance.

Maybe elemental ninjutsu was his calling? He would have to find out more though, he doubted it would be as easy as picking an element and flinging it around as he pleased.

He could hope though.

His thoughts were interrupted by the smell of his ramen snapping him out of his daydream, he quickly closed the book piling it quickly on top of the other one before grabbing his cup ramen and making short work of his salty breakfast.

Quick, cheap, and tasty what else could he ask for?

Finishing his breakfast in typical Uzumaki fashion, inhaling it, Naruto decided he needed to take a break he had spent all night and most of his morning reading his body demanded exercise.

Gathering his outfit consisting of a pair of black shorts, a white shirt with an orange spiral on the back, and finished off with a pair of blue sandals he quickly changed and made his way out the house. Deciding against heading further into the village he made his way towards the outskirts of the village instead, in the direction the outer training grounds.

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Konoha had two types of training grounds, the first being those found within the village used generally by academy students and genin for safety and oversight. The second being larger ones located outside the village that were bigger but didn't offer the safety of Konoha's walls these were used by chunin level ninja and up.

Obviously, he knew he didn't belong to either category but the guards generally didn't bother stopping him from walking out. He wouldn't put it past them to be hoping for a stay animal to attack him or something.

Frowning at the thought he shook his head and sped up he was not going to think about that for now.

As expected the guards barely spared him a passing glance before returning to their duties as he walked through the checkpoint leading to the training grounds. At least being ignored had some perks to it.

Naruto slowed as the village gates shrunk behind him, hidden by the towering trees that concealed the village and give it its namesake. He truly enjoyed being out in nature he was still alone, yes, but it lacked the malice that seemed to follow him when he traveled throughout the village instead replaced with peaceful silence.

"YOOOOOOOUUUUUUTTHHHHHHHH!" An excitable shout rang out through the forest.

Okay, maybe not so peaceful today.

Sprinting to where he heard the shout he came across two figures standing in the middle of an empty training ground. They seemed not to notice him hidden within a bush by the edge of the grounds too engrossed with their own conversation.

The first figure was a bit shorter than the second standing around five foot nine through the more interesting features were his spiked silver hair standing defiantly in the face of gravity, his headband that covered his left eye, and a face mask that covered his mouth and nose leaving only his right eye visible giving him a scarecrow-like appearance. Other than that he seemed rather plain garbed in the standard green shinobi vest with a black long-sleeved shirt and somewhat baggy black pants and sandals.

The second figure, however, made the first look completely normal. Standing at around six foot tall the second figure was dressed head to toe in a green skintight jumpsuit with a green vest and orange leg warmers. The oddity didn't stop there the bowl cut and bushy eyebrows made for one of the strangest sights Naruto had ever seen.

"Were those things even real?" He wondered staring at the man's giant and rather animated eyebrows.

He was brought out of his musings by another shout from the larger man.

"My eternal rival I challenge you to a contest to fan the flames of our youth!" The man exclaimed offering a thumbs up and a grin to his companion.

The shorter figure was silent for a few minutes simply staring off into the treeline for a moment before replying in a much less enthused manner.

"...Did you say something Guy?" The man asked pulling out a little orange book from a pouch on his hip.

"GAH! You and your hip attitude won't get the best of me today Kakashi I'm here to even the score and as the one behind I get to choose the challenge!" The man pointed dramatically at the now identified Kakashi.

Kakashi sighed while flipping a page of his book "Alright Guy name your challenge." he muttered hoping to get this over with quickly and go back to reading in peace.

Guy's eyes quickly darted in the direction of their hidden audience member though he knew Kakashi was well aware of the boy's presence, the amount of latent chakra inside him wasn't hard to spot even by non-sensor nin.

Guy returned his gaze to his rival giving off a dazzling smile before issuing his challenge "A simple spar old friend no better way to get our blood pumping than a good fight!."

Kakashi didn't outwardly react to his comrade's exuberance but inside he truly wanted to be anywhere but here. Was it so much to want to just read and enjoy his day off?

Apparently, yes.

Putting his book away he nodded towards Guy "What are the rules of this bout Guy?" he could try and run but Guy would find him sooner or later. That and if he left he wasn't sure what Guy would do to the kid hiding in the bushes but it wouldn't be fair to leave him to that fate.

In his hiding spot, Naruto couldn't believe his luck! He was going to watch two ninja spar for the first time. Shinobi, were by nature a secretive bunch so it was rare to see them show off any of their skill without either attacking one or being one yourself. This was a rare chance to see some action up close and he was going to make the most of it!

At his rivals, acknowledgment Guy seemed to get even more excited if that was even possible, before quickly laying out the terms of their duel.

"Only taijutsu and low-rank ninjutsu are allowed, no genjutsu or throwing weapons are permitted" Guy stated laying out the rules of engagement.

Essentially nothing that could go wrong and get their audience member harmed but still allowed them to put on a little show. It also helped that it gave Guy an advantage that he could abuse.

It seemed Kakashi picked up on that last tidbit and seemed to resign himself to being Guys training post for a bit. He wasn't weak by any means but Guy redefined what it meant to master hand to hand combat.

Nodding his head in confirmation of the rules he quickly jumped back making space to prepare, his body tensing ready to react to the slightest movement and respond in full to any aggression.

Guy grinned and fell into his usual combat stance legs parted and arms bent tucked to his side if it wasn't for his ridiculous outfit he may have looked somewhat intimidating due to his size alone.

For a moment the two simply stared at one another, sizing each other up but making no move to engage. From his position in the bushes, Naruto could feel his hairs stand on end in suspense his breath caught in his chest waiting to see who would make the first move.

He didn't have to wait long.

Guy sprung into action suddenly, crossing the distance between him and his opponent in seconds and appearing before him, left arm cocked back for a direct punch to Kakashi's torso

Kakashi having fought Guy many times before was able to predict the incoming assault and spun on his heel back facing Guys and crouching as he did so, allowing the offending fist to sail overhead before reaching out and grabbing Guy's arm using the forward momentum to throw him over his shoulder.

Guy, however, wasn't a taijutsu expert for nothing and quickly righted himself midflight and landing on his feet for a brief moment before he was once again upon his opponent in a burst of speed. If he couldn't put him down with pure power then he'd overwhelm his rival under a barrage.

Launching a series of quick punches, kicks, and jabs Guy made sure to leave no room for Kakashi to breath under his rapid assault and forced him back closer to the center of the clearing.

Kakashi grit his teeth in annoyance under his mask, this fight was firmly in Guy's favor and if this kept up things they would be tied soon and that meant even more challenges!

He refused to allow it.

Seeing an opening in Guy's attack, he quickly dodged under a jab making its way towards his face before kicking Guy in the stomach forcing him to pause slightly in his attack creating the gap needed for Kakashi to jump back once again creating some distance.

He wasn't idle during his backward flight through, flashing through hand signs in mid-air he brought his fingers up to his masked mouth calling out the name of his Jutsu "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Naruto watched in awe as a large ball of red and orange flames appeared in front of the masked ninja before sailing towards Guy's position ready to consume anything and everything in its path. It detonated immediately on contact with the ground sending heated air rushing outwards from the explosion and charring the land around the impact site.

Shielding his eyes from the gust of heated air Naruto quickly turned to see what had become of the green-clad shinobi who'd apparently just taken a fireball head-on, was he okay?!

Among the leftover flames and charred rocks, he could not find a body just ash, grass, and a burning log? Did Guy escape?

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" A booming and familiar voice cried out from behind Kakashi, drawing Naruto's attention back in the other direction.

Kakashi wasn't surprised that hadn't put Guy down and he had been ready for a retaliatory strike. Hearing one of Guy's signature techniques incoming He quickly spun around once more this time bringing both his arms up as he braced himself and soon felt the familiar and highly unpleasant sensation of Guy's foot smashing against his raised arms and sending him skidding across the training ground leaving them once again face to face.

Taking a moment to inspect one another, Kakashi noted Guy's outfit had a bit of soot on it and he could see light burn marks from the heat of the explosion it seems his attack hadn't completely been avoided but he knew it wasn't enough to actually stop him by any means.

Guy looked over Kakashi, barring some scuff marks he appeared outwardly fine but he could see the silver-haired ninja's arms lightly shaking a bit from his surprise attack, His rival hadn't reacted in time and was forced to take the attack head on his hidden weights adding to the power of the kick.

Naruto was watching all this with bated breath truthfully he knew neither opponent was giving their all in this match but he didn't care, the skill on display was enough to make this whole outing worth it in his eyes. He knew he had made the right choice coming out here this morning!

Refocusing on the two ninjas in front of him he prepared himself for the next clash.

"Guy," Kakashi called out "How about we end this in one final move yeah?"

"Oh! Are you finally fired up Kakashi are you feeling the springtime of youth?!" Guy replied hyping himself up.

"Sure...something like that," Kakashi mumbled to himself before continuing "So? What do you say, one last move?"

Guy nodded falling back into his stance ready to end their spar in one last move.

Kakashi smiled under his mask, perfect.

"Well then come at me!" Kakashi made no efforts to move, watching as Guy quickly began to close the gap between them once more. He could see Guy's right arm tense in preparation for a devastating punch as he came closer and closer.

Guy leaped at the last moment spinning sideways in midair adding an extra burst of momentum and power behind his punch before launching his fist right at Kakashi's relaxed face.

Wait, relaxed?

Guy didn't have the time to ponder this as his vision was soon consumed filled with white smoke as his fist made contact with his rivals face, or at least what he thought was his face, his fist stopping momentarily before continuing along its path eventually striking the ground, shattering it under the force of impact.

A clone, he had hit a clone...

"KAKASHI HOW UNYOUTHFUL COME BACK HERE!" Guy roared into the sky before bounding off in the direction of the village. He would not be denied the chance to even the score and prove the power of his youth!

Naruto watched as the man screamed and sprinted off towards the village his eyes barely managing to follow as he disappeared into the canopy of the trees. He could still hear the cries of youth echoing faintly through the forest.

Finally exiting the bush now that he was alone and reflected on what he'd just witnessed a small glimpse into the Shinobi world, eyes scanning over the scorched grass and shattered earth he marveled at the destruction and they hadn't even gone all out!

Giddy with excitement Naruto began the trip home passion renewed as he imagined himself launching fireballs or cracking the ground with his bare hands.

He needed to start training soon!

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**AN: Chapter 3 completed!**

**I hope you guys enjoyed it this is a longer chapter due to the little fight scene between Guy and Kakashi but I wanted to throw in a little action so that the pace isn't flat. It is the first time I've written a fight scene and I can see why many authors don't enjoy writing them (Not to say that I'm not going to write future fights just that they require a lot of planning).**

**Anyway, let me know what you think or what questions you guys have in regards to the storytelling going on here I'm still deciding a bunch of things so if you have ideas please feel free to let me know and I can toss those around too.**

**I also want to state that while I mentioned I still want this story to be Naruto I also don't plan to confine myself to following things to the letter so some characters may act different, fight different, look different etc to make a more fun story. Just want to put that on the table now.**

**I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, with that said enjoy the chapter!**

**Hello again future me here, hope you are still enjoying the story, if not that's cool thanks for giving it a shot. Just here to pop in and say hi while also mentioning that a lot of this set up will have a purpose so if you feel like time is being wasted worry no my good fellows/ladies things will all work out!**

**Anywho carry on!**

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Naruto sprinted through the village swerving past any villagers and merchants in his path with practiced ease ducking under the various stands that littered the streets harking their wares to passers-by. The village was up and about by now being close to noon and the civilians could be seen going about their daily routines, either running shops or talking amongst themselves about business and the latest gossip.

It made for a picturesque scene of peace, a far cry from the rather savage history of conflict that had ravaged the continent in ages past.

However for Naruto, the ongoings to the village were far from his mind, he was too distracted to even notice the sneering faces of a few civilians as he ran towards his destination.

The Konoha Central Library.

He wanted to talk with Amagai about he'd seen, he bet she would be super impressed by his recount of the fight he'd just witnessed, fireballs flying, ninja teleporting, creating a small crater with just a single punch!

Who wouldn't want to hear about that?!

It helped that she was his first and only real friend, he had decided someone who was so nice to him had to at least like him enough for that.

Also, he wouldn't mind experiencing that warm tingly feeling he had when he was with her, not that he would say ever say so.

Grinning at his thought he didn't notice a figure step into his path until he'd barreled right into them, ripping him from his thoughts and sending him sprawling onto the ground.

"Owwww..." He moaned to himself rubbing his head in an attempt to sooth the stinging sensation from the collision.

"Serves you right brat, watch where you are running next time." A gruff but distinctly female voice admonished him.

Naruto looked up at the offending brick wall he'd run into, at least that was it had felt like when he crashed into them and was surprised by what he saw.

She was the prettiest brick wall he'd ever seen.

Purple hair, done up in a single spiked ponytail crowned her head immediately catching his attention with its exotic coloration and style, trailing down he met her gaze and noted she had honey colored eyes that were narrowed in what he guessed was irritation at his actions. Below that, however, really caught the boys eye.

She was barely dressed, covered in little more than fishnet and a long open trenchcoat!

Face flushed he quickly rose his head to look back up at her increasing irate face, looks like he may have been staring a bit too long.

"I-I'm sorry! It was an accident I didn't mean to run into you miss I swear!" He quickly scrambled to his feet and apologized, bowing low to show proper respect to the offended party.

He had learned that it better was for him to take the blame and beg for forgiveness than try and fight. He'd figured that out the hard way the first time.

"Hmph, whatever just watch where you're going next time brat you're lucky I'm in a good mood so I'll let you off with a warning." The purple haired woman said, her face shifting from irritation to indifference accepting the boy's apology.

He seemed scared enough without her adding to it, besides she was a grown woman there was no fun in picking on a kid anyway.

Dusting her leg off she quickly turned heel and began her treck to her prior destination business concluded.

Naruto watched the purple haired woman begin to walk away, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief that she had let the matter go despite how scary she seemed at first and he was content to leave it at that and bolt as far away as possible from here in case she changed her mind.

Before he could though he recalled something about her appearance, specifically an object wrapped around her head, a headband engraved with a leaf symbol signifying her allegiance to Konoha.

So she wasn't just a scary lady, she was a trained scary lady, wonderful.

With that thought, Naruto felt even more confident that getting far away was the best course of action at that moment, but a small part of him wanted to push his luck. Maybe, if he played his cards right she could help him!

Taking a deep breath he composed himself before calling out to her.

"Hey, lady!" He hollered after her and felt a small pang of happiness when she stopped, he hadn't been outright ignored! That was good, right?

The look on her face as she turned around made him reconsider that viewpoint very quickly.

"Didn't I just say you could go?" She questioned her eyes once again narrowed at the blond holding her up, she had places to be and people to see.

Well more like people to maim and torture but who cared about the little details.

Swallowing the lump in his throat at her glare, he straightened himself pushed onward this was for his dream he couldn't afford to falter!

"Y-You're a ninja right?" He asked gazing once again at the headband hidden away under stray locks of her purple hair.

"I wear the headband brat so obviously I am, now what do you want, kid?" She wasn't the most patient woman by any means and if he didn't have a good reason to be bothering her she'd teach him to respect peoples time with a little game of 'tag'.

Flinching slightly at her tone but not deterred he pressed on ignoring his growing concern this may have been the wrong person to pester, he couldn't afford to back out now though he had a feeling that would end worse than simply asking his questions.

Doing his best to hide his growing fear, Naruto once again bowed and asked in the strongest voice a terrified five-year-old could muster.

"Please lady help me become a great shinobi!" He half asked half shouted, eyes closed in trepidation awaiting her answer.

"No." Her answer was quick, blunt and to the point, she wanted nothing to do with playing babysitter for a brat who had no clue what he was really asking.

Naruto's eyes flew open at her dismissal his earlier fear replaced with shock at her casual disregard of his request. She hadn't even considered it for a moment!

"Why not?!" He cried indignantly, he didn't think he was asking for that much.

The purple haired kunoichi rubbed the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh of irritation before glaring once more down on the blond pest.

"Look, kid, I'm not interested in taking on any snot-nosed brats as an apprentice or anything. If you want training go join the Academy it's kinda their job." She said.

Naruto's face fell from anger to confusion at her words, he hadn't even asked to be her apprentice, had he? Thinking back on his words his eyes widened slightly in understanding.

She misunderstood his request.

"Wait! Lady, I don't want to be your apprentice I just need some information!" He said quickly trying to convince her before she just decided to leave.

"Firstly, my name is Anko, not lady, brat." She damn sure wasn't a lady, no proper lady could stomach what she did that's for sure.

"Secondly, do I look like I library to you? If you have questions go there." His persistence was admirable but was quickly becoming an annoyance.

The boy pouted and for the first time sent her a glare of his own, it was cute more so than scary but she gave him props for having the guts to do it given he was shaking like a leaf at the sound of her voice a few moments ago.

Looks like he wasn't a complete waste of time.

Seeing him about to speak she cut her thoughts short and turned her attention back to him.

"For your information, I've already been to the library but I need more info to decided what kind of ninja I'm going to be!" He started taking little breaths to calm his nerves he decided it was to best to be clearer about what he wanted from her.

Anko regarding him critically for a moment, she had to admit she was a little impressed by the kid, he had stood up to her, not an easy task given her reputation, and he had initiative not something common in the average brat.

He was an interesting little punk, let's see if he could keep impressing her.

Before Naruto could even blink he found himself being lifted off the ground and thrown unceremoniously over the scary lady's shoulder and carried off to Kami knows where.

"Eh? Hey! Put me down!" He shouted, wiggling furiously in her grasp, was this a kidnapping?!.

Her grip tightened and a fearsome grin broke out on her face at his flailing, they were so cute when they tried to fight, hehe.

"You said you needed help right? Then leave it all to Anko-chan I guarantee you won't regret choosing me!" She cooed, laughing to herself as he seemed to fight harder, not at all reassured by her words.

Naruto could only sadly lament his life choices leading up his abduction.

He should have just left!

He would spend the rest of the trip offering prayers to any deity he could think of, while Anko cackled making her way deeper into the village.

* * *

A dango shop.

He had to admit, part of him was sure wherever she had planned to take him would be worse, this was actually sort of nice if he had to be honest, the smell of freshly cooked dango filled the little shop and its smaller size and seating booths created a cozy little atmosphere.

Maybe he would come back sometime, of his own free will of course.

Finishing his observations his eyes wandered back to his new, acquaintance? Teacher? Kidnapper? Whatever she was, and found her happily enjoying a stick of dango munching away like she hadn't just taken him off the street without his consent.

He pouted as he watched her eat, she didn't even offer him any!

He cleared his throat trying to break the awkward silence and get this over with as quickly as possible and ask his questions.

Anko quietly observed the boy as he took in his surroundings, watching as his eyes darted around taking in the layout of the shop and its patrons occasionally glancing in her direction before quickly wandering elsewhere. She decided to allow him a moment to get comfortable before getting down to business, it would make him a bit more relaxed and she could enjoy her food in relative peace

A win-win situation if you asked her.

He looked around a few minutes before coughing to get her attention, looked like he was ready to talk.

Finishing her current stick of dango she leaned back and rested against her seat and addressed him.

"Now that you've got my attention brat, what kind of questions were so important that you'd decide to stand in my way?" She doubted he would have gone through all this trouble for some basic info and he'd said he had already visited the village library so it can't have been something simple either. Perhaps he just wanted to know what it meant to be a ninja, she doubted that though he was rather young to be asking a question like that.

Then again stranger things had happened.

"How do you fight?" He asked, pausing for a moment before clarifying "What I guess I'm asking is how do YOU fight Anko-san?" He corrected.

She hadn't been expecting that question, she was anticipating the usual drivel kids wanted to know about being a ninja like how many jutsu she knew, or advice on weapon throwing.

Not personal questions.

She leaned forward and rested her cheek against her palm, absentmindedly chewing an empty stick of dango as she pondered his inquiry.

"Why do you want to know?" She probed him, wondering just what he would need with such info anyway.

His face fell a bit as he replied.

"I want to become a ninja but before I can begin my training I want to pick out fighting styles that suit me but there is only so much I can learn from books." He said, taking a moment to breathe he continued on.

"I thought," His face turned sheepish at this point, "I thought maybe, with you being a ninja already you could offer me some advice?" he finished somewhat meekly, a hopeful look in his eyes.

Anko nodded to herself, the pieces falling into place as she considered his request. She thought it was a bit strange he was determined to find a focus so early on, but there were benefits to committing early to certain styles. He would be able to master his skills faster if he was able to narrow his training down to just what he needed instead of allocating time and energy to less helpful studies and exercises.

"Before I answer tell me something brat, do you have a rough idea of what you plan to specialize in at all?" She questioned.

He shook his head in a negative, face falling once again at his own indecision.

"I've considered both ninjutsu and taijutsu but they feel, overdone I guess." While he still considered the fight he'd seen this morning amazing, based on what he knew a majority of shinobi ended up specializing in either nin or taijutsu.

He wanted to be different or at least stand out a bit more.

Anko nodded "I see." she said sitting back up, "So you want to know how I fight in order to figure out if you might be interested in learning how to do the same." she summarized filling in the gaps he'd left with his earlier questions.

"I'm more a jack of all trades kinda gal brat, I have a little bit of everything under my belt though I do excel at infiltration and the use of poison." She decided to leave out her talent at assassination for his sake.

No need to go scaring him again.

Naruto thought on her words the guide book had mentioned some ninja fought with poison but it wasn't commonly used due to extra preparation and knowledge required to be effective with it.

Not to mention the danger of accidentally poisoning yourself or your allies.

"Why poison?" He asked she must have had a reason for choosing it over a more convenient style of fighting.

Anko smirked at his confusion, he was clever for his age but he was still just a kid in the end.

"Tell me something if you could take out five opponents in one move, or, five opponents in ten moves, which would you choose?" she asked.

He answered immediately "Five with one move."

"Then you've answered your own question, brat," she said, "The beauty in poison is that it only takes a little to do a whole lot of damage, allowing you to get the best results while expending less energy." She explained.

Naruto muddled over her explanation and it made sense the less energy you used to finish a fight the more you had to use later in a pinch. He would definitely need to consider that in his search.

He was brought out of his musings by a flick to his forehead, it seemed Anko wasn't done talking.

"Sorry, I was thinking." He muttered.

"Figured, anyway brat while I understand what you are trying to do I think you are going about this wrong." She said bluntly.

"What do you mean?" He asked, was she saying this information wasn't helpful?

"Tell me," She began "What are the key things a ninja wanting to be ninjutsu specialist needs? If you weren't lying about studying up you should know this."

Recalling the information he'd read on ninjutsu and its practitioners he remembered the book saying a large chakra capacity and, or high chakra control were essential requirements for anyone looking to become an expert in ninjutsu due to its intense chakra requirements.

"A ninjutsu specialist needs to have good levels of chakra control and a large chakra pool to be most effective in his branch." He responded.

Anko nodded and said, "That right, now answer me this brat, have you actually unlocked your chakra yet?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Um, well no..." He replied, "But, what does that have to do with finding my focus?" he questioned.

"If you haven't even unlocked your chakra how can you know what options are and aren't open to you?" She pushed, seeing his widen at her statement she moved to strike while he was still following her line of thought.

"Let's say you leave here and don't want to be a ninjutsu specialist, you train yourself completely in taijutsu or some other style not heavily dependant on chakra for a few years before finding out you have a massive pool of chakra to draw from that would make you a monster in ninjutsu. However, you didn't nurture it because you decided too early on that it wasn't for you when you didn't have all the information." She finished.

Naruto was kicking himself, how had he overlooked that?! The book stressed many ninja arts were reliant or completed with chakra and he was supposed to figure out what he wanted to do without even having access to his own!

Anko seeing the boy slump into his seat at the revelation decided to take pity and throw him a bone.

"If you want some advice here's what I would suggest." She said grabbing his attention as he looked for any way to salvage his plans and wasted time.

"Forget all the focus business for now and instead work on improving yourself first." She said.

Seeing his confused look she explained.

"You probably won't unlock your chakra for at least another year anyway," Not unless someone forcibly opened his pathways and she wasn't about to do that, she'd done her good deed for the day already helping him out this much.

"So, instead," She continued "Start training your body, physical conditioning is still useful since no matter you end up specializing in you still need to be in good physical shape to be a ninja and it's easier to train your body now when you're young." She explained.

Naruto pondered her suggestion for a while weighing up the pros and cons to her advice and honestly, he couldn't fault her logic plus she was an experienced kunoichi so she probably knew what she was talking about having experienced it herself.

With that in mind, Naruto hopped out of the booth and grinned, already new plans started forming in his head he may not have got what he initially wanted but he wouldn't complain about all he'd learned today.

Turning to face the curious kunoichi watching him, he offered her a wide smile to express his gratitude.

"Thanks a lot, Anko-san your advice really helped, I'll make sure I remember you when I'm the world's greatest ninja!" He cheered before rushing out of the store and out into the busy streets of the village waving as he ran out of view.

Back inside Anko could only laugh at the nerve of that little punk, he had spirit and he reminded her a lot of her past self, so eager and determined to conquer any challenge.

She rubbed at her neck tracing a slightly rougher patch of skin contrasting the rest of the flesh around it. Kami, it felt like a lifetime ago where her own smile might have been able to match his.

Before everything had gone so fucking wrong.

She could only hope he ended up in a better place than she had...

* * *

**AN. Chapter 4 done!**

**Gosh, this chapter felt like it took forever and I was constantly changing my vision for this chapter as well so, sorry if it doesn't seem as solidly put together. I still think it came out well and it was an interesting experience overall.**

**This chapter should kick up the pace of the story a little bit so hopefully, you guys enjoy that. As always let me know what you guys think any and all feedback is appreciated!**

**See you next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, carry on and enjoy**!

* * *

Naruto smiled as he finally arrived at his originally intended destination, his slight detour/kidnapping at the hands of Anko while troublesome proved more helpful than he could have imagined! Not that he had imagined anything good coming of it while he was being essentially abducted in broad daylight.

He was still a little bit bitter about the whole affair, no one even tried to stop her!

"Stupid villagers..." He grumbled making his way inside the library the twin oak doors shutting softly behind him as he entered and began the search for his favorite librarian.

Granted, she was the only one he knew but even if he knew all of them she would still be his favorite.

Checking the front desk he frowned upon finding his target missing, he supposed she must be in another part of the library or out reorganizing the shelves. Being the holding place for most of the villages collective knowledge, or at least the non-classified and dangerous bits, Konoha's central library was actually rather large and without proper upkeep would be a nightmare to fix back up.

So, with a sigh, Naruto began his treck through the rows towering bookcases eyes and ears open for any signs of his 'prey'. She had to be somewhere caught up in all these books.

He spent the next few minutes searching, pausing occasionally to stop and look around the more hidden away corners of the building before circling back to where he started, his frown growing deeper at his lack of success.

"I guess she's just not here today..." He grumbled to himself

He really had wanted to go over everything that had happened today there was so much to talk about.

He sucked his teeth at the apparently lost opportunity, before freezing as two delicate hands suddenly covered his eyes and a familiar voice whispered in his ear.

"Guess who?" The voice teased.

Face rapidly heating at the close contact Naruto quickly removed the offending hands and spun to face his 'attacker' with a pout and his best glare.

"Amagi-chan don't do that!" He cried, trying and failing to hide his embarrassment at being taken off guard.

Amagi giggled softly into her sleeve at his pouting face, the boy was just so expressive even for a child. A far cry from Nara clan children who often reacted to everything with either exasperation or disinterest.

She couldn't help but tease him a little. She idly noted that they were rather close for two people who had only met the day before. She chalked it up to how open the boy was with her, he wore his feelings on his sleeves and his thoughts came alive in his eyes.

It was hard not to be drawn in.

She reached out and ruffled the boy's hair, ignoring his indignant squeak and smiling to herself that despite the annoyed front he put on, she could feel him leaning into her touch a silent demand for more attention.

She played with his hair for a few moments longer before removing her hand, pretending she hadn't noticed the slight frustration in his eyes at the departure to spare him some dignity, she made her way over to her chair behind the desk and gestured for the boy to sit in the spare one next to her.

He quickly scrambled onto it and turned to face her, a bit of red still tinted his cheeks but she saw the slight smile that hinted at his contentment.

"So, what brought you back here so soon Naruto-kun?" She asked, "I wasn't expecting to see you again for a least a few days after you left."

At her question, Naruto seemed to snap out of his light daze and he remembered just why he'd come here in the first place.

"I'm here for two things Amagi-chan," He said holding up two fingers for emphasis.

Amagi-chan? She hadn't noticed it the first time but he had called Amagi-chan earlier when she'd frightened him too. She supposed he felt comfortable around her.

The thought made her both happy and sad, happy the boy felt safe enough with her after only one meeting to refer to her so affectionately. However, it saddened her that the boy was so starved for positive attention that he was quick to latch onto people for showing basic acts of kindness.

Just how bad were things for him? She doubted she would never really know unless he told her.

Frowning at her thoughts she tuned back in to see the boy looking at her expectantly.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun can you repeat what you said I spaced out for a moment." She said offering him an apologetic smile.

Naruto nodded and moved to repeat himself.

"I said, I came here to thank you for the books you let me borrow they were really interesting and helpful, especially the bingo book!"

"Eh? Did you already finish them both?" She questioned, it had only been a day!

Naruto shook his head "No, I'm halfway through the book on ninja arts and I've only skimmed through the bingo book this morning." He admitted.

"I see." She nodded, "What else did you come here for then?" she asked.

"I also came to ask if you had any books on physical conditioning or body training exercises?" He said making his request.

"Physical conditioning or body training?" She repeated to herself, "Have you decided to focus on taijutsu?"

Once again the boy shook his head before answering, "I've decided to put off finding it until I have more information about myself, I met another ninja on my way here who suggested I focus on building my body's strength up first."

She nodded to herself, she understood now.

"Hmm, I'm sure we have a book on training exercises somewhere in that pile I made for you, give me a moment to find it." She said, standing quickly she made her way over to a cart hidden away towards the back end of the rounded desk.

Amagi shuffled through a few books before selecting one and making her way back over to him.

"This one should have everything you need to get started." She said, handing him her selected text.

Naruto inspected the book for a few moments, it wasn't as thick as the guide book Amagi had lent him previously, but it was a little thicker than the bingo book was. It had a solid red hardcover and on it in bold black print were the words, "Beginners Guide to A Better Body, by Might Dai." Besides the author's name, a small indent in the shape of a fist could be seen.

"Now I should let you know Naruto you can only borrow three books at any given time," Amagi told him "If you want another one you'll need to return one book in exchange." she finished.

Naruto nodded in understanding and made a mental note to finish the guide book soon in case he needed to exchange it for something else.

"Is that all you needed today?" She asked

Naruto thought to himself for a moment before slapping his palm against his face, how could he forget the last thing he'd come here for!

"I almost forgot Amgai-chan I also came to tell you about what I saw this morning!" He said excitedly bouncing up and down in his seat in barely contained excitement.

"Oh? Well, go on don't keep me waiting?" She replied, feeding into his excitement.

"It all started this morning when I left the house this morning..." Naruto went on to regale her with his tale of bush espionage, and a dramatization of a fierce struggle between a hulking green beast and a one-eyed scarecrow.

Amagi hadn't laughed that hard in a while.

Naruto left the library an hour later with a large smile and an increasingly familiar warm fuzzy feeling in his chest.

Today was a good day.

* * *

Naruto decided to return home, to get started on his new book, he had considered heading towards one of the training grounds to start his training right away, but Amagi had pointed out it was already midday and he would be better off starting tomorrow morning after he read up on training methods rather than reading as he went along.

He still stopped by the training yards though he wanted to pick one out ahead of time so he could get there early. Eventually, he found one not too far from the village but perfect for his needs, after marking the spot he headed home.

Now here he was, flipping through pages of his latest source of information and he had to admit whoever Might Dai was, they had written a pretty simple but effective book.

Unlike the ninja arts guide, this one was less about the theory and mechanics behind everything, though there were some side notes here and there, and more about how and why certain exercises improved specific talents and helped build better body habits.

It was also deceptively short, each page wasn't filled to the brim with text and definitions as he'd expected, but rather visual aids on how to perform certain stretches or movements to get the most out of training.

He'd actually managed to finish it before nightfall and was now creating a training schedule for himself as the book had recommended, stressing it was better for the body to have a routine than to just bounce from one exercise to another with no patterns. That was another thing he liked about it. the book was filled with warnings about the dangers of bad forms and practices providing him with the means to avoid damaging his body needlessly.

With the advice from the text, he had managed to put together a beginner training schedule for himself until his body was ready to handle the strain of more intense workouts.

_Wake up: 7 am_

_Perform warm-up stretches: 10 minutes_

_Laps around the training ground: 6 laps_

_Rest: 15 minutes_

_Crunches: 3 sets of 25, 2-minute rest between sets_

_Push-ups: 2 of 15, 2-minute rest between sets_

_Squats: 3 sets of 10, 2-minute rest between sets_

_Rest: 10 minutes_

_Practice proper punching technique: 50 punches with each arm_

_Practice proper kicking technique: 50 kicks with each leg_

_Rest: 5 minutes_

_Laps: 1_

_Crunches: 2 sets of 10, 2-minute rest between sets_

_Push-ups: 2 sets of 5, 2-minute rest between sets_

_Squats: 3 sets of 5, 2-minute rest between sets_

_Cooldown stretches: 5 minutes_

Looking over his schedule he was a little concerned about the amount he would have to do but he wanted to test his limits and he could always adjust it he couldn't handle it.

The book had mentioned weights but informed him that younger users should wait until they were a bit older to begin using them to avoid stunting their growth so that was off the table for a while. The book also stressed his diet and this was the one point he wanted to ignore with all his heart.

He needed to cut back on ramen.

He absolutely loathed the idea of not having his favorite salty food constantly but the book was adamant a healthy diet would ensure the best possible results and help reinforce his body. So far books hadn't led him astray so he would do it.

Under heavy protest though.

Noticing the time he decided it would be best to prepare for bed, sleep was important and he had a feeling he would need all the rest he could get starting tomorrow.

* * *

Oh, how right he had been.

Waking up at seven wasn't that bad he would have liked more sleep but he was also pretty excited so it hadn't taken him long to get ready and make his way over to his selected training grounds, once again the guards made no move to stop him from wandering off so he arrived fairly quickly once he located the trail he'd left the day before, it would probably get faster once he fully memorized the way over.

The warm-up stretches posed no real issues being naturally flexible due to his age and within a few minutes, he felt limber and excited to take his first steps towards his dream and quickly began the next step, his laps.

The excitement didn't last very long.

Had he been timing himself he would have found out that one lap around the training ground took him about five minutes with each subsequent lap taking a little bit longer due to fatigue. It took twelve minutes to complete the fourth lap and his legs and lungs burned from the nonstop running.

By the time he'd finished the final lap, he had spent almost an hour on the laps alone.

Everything hurts he quietly noted to himself chest heaving to take in all the air it could despite the pain. Even for a stamina monster like him trying to keep up the pace was hellish, he thanked whatever deities listening that he'd had the foresight to put a small break in between his laps and the rest of his workout.

Greedily milking his 15-minute break for all it was worth, he slowly pushed himself onto shaky legs to begin the next exercise. His body shouted at him to stop and let it recover more but he squashed those thoughts as best he could, he hadn't come this far to give up just yet.

Moving onto the crunches he quickly set himself to work ignoring the pain as he pushed his untrained body to meet his demands.

The workout was just as equally mental as it was physical.

He continued in this way for the rest of the morning, pushing himself harder and harder even as his limbs began to go numb, he still refused to stop taking breaks only when permitted by his outline. Push-ups, squats, punches, and kicks all done to the letter.

Sweat dripped down his body drenching his hair and stinging his eyes, his shirt clung to him like a second skin, covered in dirt and grass stains from the few times he'd collapsed in exhaustion, before pulling himself back up to go at it again.

If you asked anyone they'd probably say he looked like shit.

He sure felt like it that's for sure.

Leaning against a nearby tree he simply stared into the sky, too tired consider moving for a while. He watched as the clouds drifted lazily in the sky making notes of any odd or unique shapes with little noises.

He didn't have the energy to speak at the moment.

He didn't know how long he laid there just staring at the sky, he experimentally tried to move his arms but found little success, same with his legs.

So alone he sat with his thoughts and he had a lot to think about recently.

He thought about his dream, to be the best ninja ever and for the first time he wondered what that would look like, different images of an older him in various outfits and equipped with various weaponry flashed through his mind mentally occasionally grunting out his approval or disapproval of a certain look.

He then thought about the village and its people, the cold looks and harsh whispers he'd been exposed to for as long as he could remember. He had tried to apologize for whatever he had done to earn their hate, he'd tried to be better, more polite, more welcoming but nothing had ever worked, in the end, he was always alone.

He hated it, sometimes he even admitted quietly to himself he hated them. Could he really claim to love the village if part of what made the village what it was, were the people who shunned him? Could he love a place that didn't love him back?

He never noticed the tears that slowly leaked out of his eyes at his darker line of questioning, he was too tired to fight them and too upset at them to care.

He couldn't hold the mask up all time, he couldn't pretend to be happy forever. He needed to let it out at some point.

So he did.

He cried, and he cried, and he cried until eventually there were no more tears to shed. For the first time in a long time, he just let everything go and wept for what he never had.

The family he never had, the love of parents who would care for and would support him. That would be there for him just like the other children had.

The toys he never got, too poor to afford such things he always had to save to buy food and clothes, and what good did toys do if you ended up having to play by yourself anyway?

That brought him to the thought that hurt the most, he didn't have any friends. He could accept not having parents, he knew other orphans existed he wasn't alone. He knew not ever kid had or could afford toys, those too he could live without.

But, friends?

It seemed everyone but he could have those, could have someone to laugh with and share his secrets. It wasn't fair, why couldn't he have those? Why was he the one always left out?

Why was he always the one that had to be alone?!

He clenched his teeth, his dirty hair shadowing his eyes as negative thoughts swirled violently in his head. It's why he hated coming home to his little empty apartment its dirty walls staring back at him almost taunting him, with no one to talk to he could only sit and think, and the more he thought the lonelier he felt, and the lonelier he felt...

The angrier he got.

He wanted to be anywhere else right now, he wanted to run and never stop running until he didn't have to think anymore! Until his heart stopped hurting!

He couldn't though his body refused to obey refused to listen to the one last thing he demanded from it, too spent to give him this one small comfort.

So, instead, he had to remember. He remembered the endless sea of glaring faces, he remembered the unending taunts and the jeers from adults and children alike, he remembered the broken windows and vandalized walls he would come home to after a long day out and the hours he would spend cleaning while passers-by laughed at his misfortune.

He remembered the warm feeling in his chest the first time someone had truly acknowledged him. That, someone, had looked upon him, not with scorn or indifference but warmth and understanding. Someone had opened their arms to him without malice and gave him a place where he experienced something he never had before.

The feeling of being wanted.

Amagi had never turned him away, in fact, she had gone out of her way to help him repeatedly! She believed in him when he spoke, never once doubting him, or mocking his dreams. She had been a true friend to him.

His first real friend.

His tear stained cheeks stretched wide, his earlier thoughts being beaten back by the sheer force of his positivity. A damaged but true smile settled on his face.

Things weren't perfect but they were starting to get better one step at a time. Calling on all the strength he could, he slowly and shakily raised his clenched fist above his head inch by painstaking inch until his arm was fully outstretched above the tallest spike of his hair.

Through grit teeth, he made repeated his promise to him.

He would be the best damn ninja this world had ever seen or die trying and he would make the whole village recognize him for it!

That was an Uzumaki promise!

* * *

**AN. Chapter 5 for your faces**

**I want to thank everyone who supports the story by giving me feedback it is extremely helpful and encouraging I do try to take your advice into consideration when I'm writing.**

**As you can see I added an emotional bit at the end there to help add some more depth to Naruto and give hints that he isn't a perfect character and there is underlying damage there just hidden away so I hope it came out alright. This is still my first time doing this so I apologize if it isn't perfect.**

**Take care and I'll see you all in the next chapter!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, please carry on and enjoy!**

**An. Hope you guys are having a happy Valentine's Day!**

**-Are you getting sick of future me yet? So I felt the need to come back to this chapter specifically because a lot of people read this chapter and very quickly make assumptions about the story that ignores a lot of what I end up doing with these characters. I will not spoil that here but I do ask you at least read to the end of the authors note at the bottom.**

**Anywho, carry on!**

* * *

_One month._

It had been one month since he started his training, every morning rain or shine Naruto made his way over to his secret training ground and worked himself until his muscles burned and his bones ached, often he had to drag himself back home through sheer force of will before collapsing.

It was the most grueling thing he'd ever done and he was somewhat ashamed to admit he'd considered throwing in towel more than once.

He was still a child after all.

But, he'd made a promise that first day, he swore to himself that no matter what he would become the best and prove everyone wrong, he would make them see just how great he was!

His resolve only strengthened once he started showing slow signs of improvement, about a week and a half in, he had noticed he was able to maintain his running pace for longer during laps before falling off, he was less tired at the end of every set and collapsed far less frequently than he had when he'd first started.

By the end of the third week, he had become accustomed to his routine no longer struggling to get out of bed in the morning and he completed all his assigned exercises much quicker than before.

However, his training had given him some odd revelations about his body that he couldn't really explain, mainly in regards to how his body healed.

The training guide explained the basics of how muscles worked and why he experienced pain after a hard training session. Essentially, his muscles were tearing and repairing themselves as he pushed them past their usual limits, this process resulted in stronger muscles but temporary pain as the muscles took time to heal from the tearing.

His concerns had come in just how quickly his body seemed to recover from this process. The guide mentioned that for beginners depending on how hard they push themselves it can take anywhere from a few days to about a week to shrug off the initial aches and pains of training.

Somehow, he had managed to almost completely recover overnight.

The morning after his first training session he'd been mostly back to one hundred percent. Sure, he had been a slightly sore the following morning but nothing like how the book had gone through length to warn him about.

He'd asked Amagi if she had any clues as to why he seemed to heal so quickly being his primary source of information besides books, he had initially been worried that maybe he wasn't pushing himself hard enough so his body wasn't responding properly.

She had quickly waved his concerns away on that idea though, especially after he had shown her his training plan.

While she couldn't offer him an explanation as to why he seemed to recover faster she reminded him that every person's body was different and perhaps he just happened to possess a quicker healing rate than most others.

He'd been a bit skeptical of that answer finding it too convenient and so he decided to find a way to test and see just how much faster he could recover in comparison to a regular person. In the quiet of his home, he took a kitchen knife and made a small cut on the tip his finger, just enough to draw blood, and waited to see how long it took for the cut to heal.

The bleeding stopped in less than five minutes, the wound closed in about ten, and he couldn't even tell he had been cut after about half an hour.

He had then asked Amagi how long it took her to recover from a similar minor injury.

She had told him about a week for a complete recovery.

That was a lot longer than he'd been expecting and it only made him more curious. It was one thing to heal quickly, but this seemed to go far beyond anything he could think of.

He had tried looking into the few medical books the library had available but they were far too advanced for him and he wasn't really sure what to even begin looking for in the first place.

So, with a heavy heart, he put his quest for knowledge in that area behind him until he was more equipped to delve into the inner workings of the human body.

On a more positive note, a faster recovery meant he could accelerate his training, something Amagi had pointed out to him much to his joy though she had made him promise not to push himself too hard.

He didn't have it in him to deny her request, especially not when she asked while playing with his hair and giving him that sweet smile of hers.

That was a low blow and they both knew it, he swore could feel the smugness radiating off her when he'd finally broke and given her his word.

She was crafty for a librarian.

Shifting his thoughts away from his bodily questions and cheeky librarians, Naruto decided to head out for the day and just walk around the village. For the past month other than the training grounds he had only really visited three other locations those being the library for new books and to visit Amagi, the bathhouse to help rest his body after training, and Ichrakus for his one bowl of ramen a week.

He was still protesting that.

Either way, he hadn't really had the time to just walk around the village and since he finished training early today he might as well go see if anything interesting was going on or if the traveling merchants were selling any special wares from other villages.

With his plans for the day finalized he quickly packed his supplies away and set out to explore.

* * *

Boring.

There was literally nothing here he hadn't already seen before on his previous trips through the market and nothing of value that warranted spending his hard saved money. There were a few well-known con artists that swung into town from time to time claiming to have limited one of a kind items to trick idiots and little kids out of their money but he had long since stopped indulging them.

Let it be known, growing up an orphan had made Naruto rather reluctant to part with his money for anything he couldn't fully see the use or value of.

Giving up on finding anything useful or interesting, Naruto decided to head to the park not too far off from the market district where parents often left their kids while they went shopping or ran their stores.

Konoha Park, or Little Root Park as it had come to be known, was the oldest and most popular park in the village. Partly due to its proximity to the village market place, but also because rumor had it the Shodai had created the trees that made up the small forest found within it as a symbol of peace.

A place for children to be happy and protected, a place untouched by horrors of war.

Whether or not that information was actually true remained a mystery, but the idea itself created a sense of pride and community in the village, and so the park was very well maintained and popular because of it.

Naruto decided he would walk along some of the small trails that wound through the other edges of the park, he didn't want to attract any unwanted attention from nearby parents with his presence.

It wouldn't be the first time angry mother or father dragged their kids away mid-play session because of him.

Shaking those negative thoughts away he started along a dirt path absentmindedly weaving between the trees and rocks that dotted the trail as he walked along, swatting away the occasional bug that decided to get a bit too close for his liking.

Nature had always made Naruto feel at home, there just wasn't anything like it to the blond. The sunlight peeking through the gaps in the trees brought the forest to life in an almost mythical way that just he never saw anywhere else in the village.

Closing his eyes he took a moment to just enjoy the experience, the gentle but sweet aroma of the wildflowers, the sturdy but unnaturally smooth texture of the trees, the soft muffled sounds of someone crying...

Wait, crying?

Naruto eyes snapped open and he listened more closely, doing his best to tune out the buzzing of nearby insects and distant shouts of the playground children. He strained his ears, searching for what he'd heard.

He heard it once again, faintly further up the trail, just hidden away by the playful screams of children and dense woodland, a soft but audible sobbing reached him.

Concern gripping him he ran towards the sound, his earlier peace forgotten.

* * *

Hinata knew she wasn't the bravest girl.

She wasn't even the smallest bit brave if she was brutally honest with herself, unable to even give her name to a stranger if pressed without tripping over words and making a fool of herself.

It was difficult to believe she was the heiress of the famed Hyuga clan, a group known for their stoic and unflinching disposition.

She was a disappointment, a failure...

A coward.

She never felt like she belonged, not at home and not with the other children either. She didn't know how to approach them, all her attempts had failed in one way or another...

_"You're pretty weird, don't bother us."_

_"Huh? Speak up, don't you know how to talk?"_

_"You're too small to play with us, go ask someone else."_

She didn't even have the courage to start a conversation let alone keep one going without annoying others with her meek behavior.

So she was understandably surprised when three children a few years older than her approached, smiles on their face as they invited her to play with them. She had almost been too shocked to respond, they wanted to play with her?!

She had worn her favorite white yukata today, her mother had made it for her saying it would bring her good luck, she didn't think it would actually work but she was willing to try anything at this point.

She almost couldn't believe it.

She wanted to cry, someone actually wanted her, the shy little Hygua who was could hardly utter a word.

She had barely managed to nod her head to say yes before they grabbed her hand and started leading her down one of the forest trails, telling her they had a secret little spot to play at.

She wasn't supposed to go into the forest, her parents had warned her it wasn't safe unless she was being supervised.

But she didn't want to lose this chance, just once she wanted to play with the other kids and laugh with them instead of watching from the sidelines.

So she let them lead her through the dense grouping of trees, past the tall rocks and off the path, to a small open clearing hidden away.

She turned to face her newfound friends, looking to them for instructions on what to do next. She never had anyone to play with before she didn't know what to do and she was afraid of disappointing them with her awkwardness.

They stood behind her, much closer than when they had approached her smiles still on their faces.

But she couldn't help but notice they wore a different kind of smile, not the warm ones they had greeted her with but a cruel smile, one that promised mischief and trouble.

"U-Um, w-what are we g-going to d-do now?" She stuttered, she didn't like their grins, they made her uneasy, but she squashed that feeling they were her friends and she would trust them.

"Oh, we've got this really fun game called mud-bomb that you'll just love." The one closest to her answered, a brown-haired youth with a gap in his teeth.

Suddenly the other two boys flanking him darted forward and grabbed her arms locking her in place.

"W-What a-are you d-doing?!" She cried, "L-Let me go!", she could feel her heart pounding as she struggled, trying to get out of their grasp, but their grip held tight keeping her in place laughing at the big, wet tears leaking from her eyes as she panicked.

"Kami, are you really a Hyuga?" The one standing in front of her sneered "To think Kento-sensei told us you guys were one of the strongest clans in the village, but all I see is a big baby!" He taunted.

He bent low and scooped a pile of wet dirt and gunk into his hand shaping it into a deformed but clearly ball-like shape.

"I said we were going to play mud-bomb and I meant it, now I think I don't need to explain how this works." He said laughing at her frighted look at the mud dripping between his fingers.

"P-Please d-don't!" She begged, she wasn't a vain girl she didn't care much about clothes or wealth but this outfit was special to her she couldn't bear to face her mother if it got ruined.

She wept loudly, the sound of her crying bringing pause to three boys who looked at one another uncertainly, they hadn't really expected her to break down crying like this when they had grabbed her.

Before they could make any further decisions they were interrupted by a shout behind them from a familiar blond haired boy.

"Hey! You better leave her alone!" He yelled running into the clearing glaring at the three boys ganging up on the scared girl.

His words seem to shake the leader out of his stupor and he glared at the smaller youth challenging him.

"You better beat it brat or you'll be next!" He said trying to scare the blond off.

"I'm not going anywhere and if you lay another hand on her I'll beat you black and blue that's a promise!" Naruto said, clenching his fist to emphasize the threat.

"Fine if you want to save her so bad then you can take her place!" The boy gave a battle cry and hurled the mudball in his hand at Naruto suddenly, catching him off guard.

Not expecting the attack, the mudball collided with his face with a wet smack blinding him and causing him to stumble back, furiously wiping away at the muck covering his eyes.

He was interrupted though by a sudden pain in his left cheek as he was sent sprawling to the ground by the older boy fist.

"Ha! You should have left when you had the chance!" The bully laughed, as he watched Naruto struggle to regain his bearings.

Hinata could only watch helplessly as the boy who had tried to help her crawled along the floor rubbing his dirt covered face.

He was hurt because of her because she wasn't strong enough because she didn't listen to her parents...

Because she was useless.

She never hated herself more than at this moment.

Naruto growled from his position on the floor, that cheap bastard wouldn't even fight fair with a kid younger than him.

The coward!

Fine if he wanted to fight dirty then so would he!

Finally wiping the muck out his eyes with his sleeve he scanned the floor and found a small stone and a quickly formed a risky plan. He just needed for the bully to take the bait and he could turn the tables.

Grabbing the stone, he hastily flung it at the older boys head and watch with bated breath as it flew towards him.

The bully noticing the rock making its way speedily towards him, quickly turned his head watching as the object flew harmlessly by, passed him and landing in some nearby bushes.

"Looks like you missed you little shi- GAH!" The boy screamed in pain mid-taunt as Naruto's small fist buried itself solidly in his stomach.

Naruto smiled to himself at how well his distraction worked, he had hoped the elder boy would spend too long tracking where the rock went that he would leave himself open and giving him time to land a surprise hit. It was a bit of gamble though if the body hadn't kept looking he would have been ready and he wasn't sure he could beat the boy in a straight fight.

His gamble paid off.

He now needed to act quickly, Naruto knew one punch wouldn't put the boy down for good and he needed to act before his buddies figured out what was going on and tried to lend any assistance.

Following his punch up Naruto raised his leg with as much force as he could and slammed his knee right into the crotch of his opponent, taking silent satisfaction in the pained scream the boy let out.

That'll teach the smug prick to throw mud in his eyes.

The bully slumped to his knees, chest heaving at both the pain in his gut and the burning sensation between his legs. His vision swimming with stars due to pain.

Naruto wasn't done yet though.

Pulling back his left fist as he had been for the past month of his training he took a moment to center himself before punching forward with all his strength planting his fist right into the boy's cheek with a crack.

He was out like a light before he hit the ground.

The rest of the onlookers watched in shock as the dirty-faced blond stepped on, and over his unconscious opponent, his piercing blue eyes made more intense by the dirt and grime dirting his face.

"Who's next?" He growled out.

The two other boys looked down at the blond and their unconscious friend for a few moments before letting the small girl go and booking it, dragging their buddy along the way as they hightailed it away from the clearing.

Naruto watched them run until he was sure they were gone before turning back to the last remaining witness to the event.

She was a small girl he noted standing a few inches shorter than him. She had short navy blue hair with two long bangs framing her round face, but what really caught his attention were her eyes.

He'd never seen lavender colored eyes before.

Hinata stared at the boy who had saved her, putting himself in harm's way without hesitation and for no reason other than to help her, a girl he didn't even know!

It reminded her of the stories her mother would read to her before bed, ones about the hero defeating all the villains and rescuing the beautiful princess before falling in love and living happily ever after together.

Here was her prince, his whiskered face covered in slime and mud with dirt staining his clothes, breathing heavily from his earlier encounter and a bruise where he'd been hit by the older boy.

And staring right at her with the most beautiful blue eyes she'd ever seen.

She felt her face heating up and heartbeat quickening the longer she looked at him, Kami she felt like she was going to faint at any moment.

For a few moments, the two just took each other in, a peaceful silence falling on top of them as they inspected one another carefully taking in every little detail.

Eventually, the silence had to be broken.

The boy walked over to her and smiled.

To her, it was as bright as the sun, brighter than that even.

He wiped his hand along his pants removing as much dirt as he could before holding it out to her and speaking proudly, his chest puffing up a bit.

"Hi! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you!" He said his goofy grin widening at his introduction.

Hinata couldn't help but giggle at his energy and openness, in a way it made her feel confident in herself like he was sharing a part of him with her.

She gave a shy smile in return before reaching out and taking his larger hand in hers.

"H-Hello, I'm H-Hinata, Hinata Hyuga!" She answered a bit loudly but it didn't seem to bother the whiskered boy in the slightest if anything he seemed to like her loud introduction.

"Hey, wanna be friends?" He asked, the smile not once leaving his face.

Hinata made a mental note to never doubt the lucky yukata again.

* * *

**AN. And there we go!**

**Hope you all liked this chapter and I tried to get a little action in there, give Naruto more development, and introduce him to someone closer to his age as opposed to a bunch of teens/adults.**

**Why Hinata? Well, she was easy to write into this scenario and I have fun ideas planned for her that would require an early meeting. Plus I adore that girl so I had to get her in eventually haha.**

**-Alright so apparently I need to be VERY CLEAR about this. Like I just said Hinata was used in this chapter because of future choices I will make that I had not yet committed to and I wanted a safe character to work with, that does not suddenly mean you have been deceived and this story was a NaruHina story in disguise. (Story says harem at the top). Hinata will appear frequently in the next few chapters because she is the only friend his age he has at the moment. If you really have to stop reading because a character appeared that's on you but since I get so many weird complaints about this I had to at least address it.-**

**Happy Valentine's day again if you don't have a valentine that I'll be yours for the rest of the day lol.**

**Till next time!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, please carry on and enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Naruto whistled quietly to himself as he made his way back towards the village from his usual morning training session, taking advantage of the natural shade of the surrounding trees to cool himself and hide from the summer heat.

Summer in Fire Country was a rather unpredictable affair, with weather ranging from the picturesque sunny skies and gentle breezes that brought the whole village out and about, to oppressive heat waves that brought traffic in the village to a crawl as civilians and ninja alike tried to escape the harsh sun by remaining indoors.

He idly wondered how ninja from Suna managed to live in a desert all year round without going insane from the heat?

Then again some of them apparently fought with dolls so maybe they weren't all there in the head to begin with if you caught his meaning.

Snorting to himself at his line of thought Naruto turned his musings to the more pressing events of the past two weeks, specifically his meeting with one particular blue haired heiress.

_***Flashback***_

_The two released one another's hands but their smiles never fell, both unaware of the others shared joy but unconsciously understanding of the significance in their simple gesture._

_"How did those jerks get a hold of you anyway Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked, curious to what had landed his newfound friend in trouble with the older boys in the first place, she didn't look like one to run with groups of troublemakers._

_At his question Hinata's face seemed to fall, her previous happy smile forgotten as she looked down shamefully at the forest floor remembering the series events that had led to her temporary capture and her new friend's disheveled state._

_"A-Ah, t-they asked me to f-follow th-them to play a g-game." She stammered out, face flushing as she recalled her own failure, "I-I thought it w-would be safe with t-them and..." her voice trailed off becoming almost a whisper, as small tears formed in the corner of her eyes._

_She had been so desperate for the smallest taste of friendship that she'd willingly ignored the advice of her parents and only made trouble for everyone._

_Like she always did._

_Naruto's eyes softened as he watched her small frame shiver slightly, silent wet tears rolled down her rounded cheeks as she tried to hold back her sobs. He'd never really had to comfort anyone since he never really had anyone to talk to, and no one ever bothered to comfort him when he was upset, preferring to leave him to his troubles or whisper behind his back. This was new territory for him_

_But at the same time, he couldn't find it in him to just leave her like that._

_So he did what he thought was natural, something he'd seen other parents do to make their kids feel better when they fell or came back upset from a game of ninja gone wrong._

_He walked closer being careful to avoid covering her in the leftover dirt still clinging to parts of his clothes, and hugged her, softly wrapping his arms around her shorter frame in his best attempt at a gesture of support._

_Hinata stiffened as she suddenly felt his arms wrap around her, her face coming to gently rest against his rising chest, taking in the scent of dried grass left over from his brief contact with the forest floor. She felt his chin rest softly atop her head, a reminder of how small she was compared to him._

_Despite the fact he'd gotten hurt for her sake he still took the time to try and comfort her._

_Her tears came out harder now and she buried her face further into his chest. Why?! Why was she always crying?! Why was she always the one who needed to be saved?!_

_He just held her tighter, softly rubbing her back in what he hoped was a relaxing manner, he wasn't sure what was wrong but he would do his best to help however he could._

_How long they stayed like that he didn't know, but eventually he felt her shaking slow, then cease as she relaxed in his arms content to just lean against him._

_"Why?..." He heard her whisper into his now wet shirt._

_"Why what?" He asked, tilting his head at her question, had he done something wrong?_

_She looked up from him, puffy lavender eyes meeting his. He could faintly see where the tears had streaked down her face and the slight tremble in her lips._

_"W-Why did you h-help me?" She looked down again, "Y-You d-don't even know m-me..." She questioned him softly._

_Naruto frowned at her question._

_"Does that matter?" He questioned back at her, did he need a reason to help someone in trouble? As far as he was concerned it didn't matter who it was, if someone was in trouble he would try and help them._

_"B-But you g-got hurt! I-f I hadn't been so foolish if I h-had just listened none of this w-would have happened..." She suddenly went quiet again and he almost missed her last few words._

_"M-Maybe if I w-wasn't so weak, y-you wouldn't have g-gotten hurt." She whispered._

_"Why do you think you're weak?" He questioned her as if he couldn't see just how much of a failure she was._

_"Because I am!" She cried out catching him off guard, this was the loudest he'd heard her speak this entire time and the first sentence she said without a stutter._

_"I-I only make t-things harder f-for everyone..." She seemed to deflate in his arms "I c-can't even t-talk to people w-without stuttering, I-I'm just a coward..." she finished sadly._

_"Then work to be better," Naruto replied to her simply, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world._

_She looked back up to him, a small frown on her face, did he think she hadn't tried to be better, to be stronger? She had tried her best, but her best just was not good enough._

_Seeing her frown he gently pushed her off him and took her hand again to focus her attention on him, missing her slight blush as she seemed to realized she had been resting against him for most of their conversation._

_"No one starts off strong," He started locking his eyes with hers, "It takes hard work and determination to be strong!"He said with a grin squeezing her hand in his_

_"But most importantly you have to want to change, how can you get stronger if you don't believe in yourself?! How can you expect others to respect you if you don't even have it in you to respect yourself?!" He exclaimed, not quite shouting but somewhere between a yell and a chant. She could see the conviction in his eyes._

_He truly believed what he said, as though he had lived through it himself._

_She looked at him with uncertainty, she wanted to be like him, to possess such boundless confidence but that wasn't who she was, she didn't believe she could possess an inner fire like him._

_"I-I don't think I c-can do that t-though..." She stuttered._

_Naruto was not deterred in the slightest at her hesitation if anything he seemed to grow more emboldened bringing her closer._

_"You can do anything you want Hinata-chan, as long as you want it bad enough and work hard enough you can be anything you wanna be!" He cheered her on determined to convince her._

_Kami, he sounded so sure, he gave nothing away that even hinted he didn't have total faith in her, that he was just talking to make her feel better about herself._

_"H-How can y-you be so sure?" She questioned, she desperately wanted to believe him, but he barely knew her how could be so confident in her, not even members of her family who she'd know her whole life had declared such faith in her, barring her mother._

_His grin lessened into a smaller, but somehow equally reassuring smile_

_"Because we're friends right? That's all I need to know to put my trust in you." He said without hesitation, his voice never once wavering._

_She stared in awe at him, the hammering feeling in her chest returning as she looked upon his gentle smile, as she drunk in the pure honesty in his gaze firm in their resolution but kind as he looked down upon her._

_She felt a slight pressure settle upon her, not a physical pressure, but a prodding of her character. A call to action that she'd never truly felt before, to take the first step, to finally prove herself._

_Her throat clenched, the words she wanted to say wouldn't come out and she felt a heat rush through her, a spark of anger as her spirit fought desperately with her body to escape and assert itself._

_I-I...I want t-to be strong..." She whispered, voice straining as she tried to convince herself, to show his faith in her wasn't misplaced._

_Then say it loud and proud Hinata-chan!" He jumped suddenly dragging her by their still joined hands. "Make a promise right here right now that you'll become stronger, that you won't shy away from anyone or anything!"_

_"I-I w-will be stronger." She said_

_"Louder!" He yelled_

_"I-I will b-be st-stronger!" She said voice raised, his own energy pushing her to match him_

_"Who are you and what do you want?!" He asked once more he trademark grin stretching his whiskered cheeks at the defiant spark he saw in her pale eyes._

_"I am Hinata Hyuga, and I want to be strong!" She roared in her loudest voice, it carried through the forest echoing off into the distance. Her chest heaved at the effort, her throat burned slightly at the sudden strain sending her into a fit of coughs._

_Despite the discomfort, she felt a sense of pride, she had never shouted before, it was unbecoming of an heiress and was frowned upon within the compound when not training._

_It felt good._

_She was broken from her thoughts by the sound of laughing, she refocused her eyes and saw Naruto sitting on the forest floor, legs crossed body leaned back with hands and arms behind him supporting his weight._

_She felt a sliver of dread that he was laughing at her, she wasn't sure she could handle that after all that had happened today, her fears were unfounded however for she could see no mockery in his gaze._

_But approval._

_Hinata was hit with a sudden wave of exhaustion, the events of the day hitting her all at once. Her legs gave out and in a manner not fitting of the Hyuga heiress, she hit the floor with the grace of a hammer._

_She couldn't care less at the moment_

_Falling onto her rear with a small squeak she joined her new friend in laughter, her faint giggles underpinning his bellowing laughter as the two children laid tiredly in the grass laughing at nothing and everything in the way only children could._

_Neither of them could remember feeling this content in a long time._

_***Flashback end***_

Naruto grinned happily at the memory, the two had spent about an hour in that clearing getting to know one another, Hinata shared tidbits about her life and things she liked such as flowering pressing, gardening, and even her favorite food, cinnamon buns.

He remembered having to hold back a laugh at the glazed look in her eyes and the slight bit of drool he swore seeped out her mouth when she talked about the sweet treat.

She had also told him about her clan, having voiced questions about her unique eyes she had explained to him the prized jewel of the Hyuga clan.

The Byakugan, or all-seeing eye.

She did not know everything about it, having not yet unlocked her own but she had given him a brief overview of what it did. He had to admit it sounded pretty freaking cool, something he'd openly told her much to her embarrassment.

Essentially, the byakugan gave its user three hundred and sixty-degree vision making it near impossible to sneak up on an aware and ready Hyuga, it also allowed the user to see far off into the distance with extream clarity making for excellent trackers.

It explained why the Hyuga were so well respected within the village their innate ability offering enhanced security and made any attempt at sneaking through the village undetected extremely difficult.

The conversation had made him curious about the other clans found within the village, he knew a few of them by name like the Akimichi since they ran many of the restaurants located throughout the village and often branded their shops with their clan symbol. He did not know, however, if every clan possessed a unique ability like the Hygua clan.

This, of course, prompted him to once more visit the library to see if he could find any more information about the known clans within or associated with Konoha.

Thankfully, the library had plenty of books detailing the various known clans found throughout the Elemental Nations. Unfortunately for him though, the books did not go too in-depth on how the bloodlines worked due to clans going to rigorous lengths to keep the inner workings of their abilities a secret to avoid enemies learning how to counter them.

Even with only brief explanations, Naruto couldn't help to feel slight jealousy towards children born within clans as he read through some of the more interesting and unique abilities.

The power to copy any jutsu or trap someone in an illusion with just a passing glance seemed completely unfair.

That had also brought him to another revelation, his first friend was from a well-known clan and she didn't tell him!

_***Flashback***_

_"Eh?! Amagi-chan your part of the Nara clan?!" The young blond cried running up to her with an open book in hand._

_She stared at him with a deadpan look from behind her desk before leaning over and pressing her finger to his nose, causing him to stumble back as his eyes suddenly crossed, disorienting him._

_"I did tell you Naruto-kun when we first met remember." She said pointedly reminding him of their early introductions._

_Naruto rubbed the back of his sheepishly, she had a point. She had introduced herself during their first meeting but he hadn't been aware of the significance of her family name at the time, and so he'd thought nothing of it._

_"Ah, sorry! But that's so cool!" He gushed, from what the book had told him members of the Nara clan were well known for their intelligence and their ability to manipulate shadows._

_So freaking badass!_

_"Amagi-chan can you do cool stuff with your shadow too?!" He asked excitedly at the idea of his friend making creatures out of shadows or maybe traveling through shadows super stealthy like._

_Amagi rested her cheek in her palm as she leaned against her desk. She debated answering his question, on one hand, if she told the truth he would no doubt want a live demonstration which was a lot of extra work for her._

_Let it never be said she wasn't a true Nara at heart, she was happy to help with running the library, it is her job after all, but outside of that, she was content to spend her days lazing about like most of her kin._

_On the other hand, if she lied the boy would be disappointed and she couldn't deny she had a soft spot for him. He made her days a bit more interesting with his regular visits and sunny disposition even if he could be a handful at times._

_"I do know a few jutsu, nothing fancy though." She begrudgingly admitted. She wasn't a ninja it was just required for all clan members to know a few of the basic main techniques on the off chance something happened to the clan and they were forced to rebuild._

_"Can you show me?! Please Amagi-chan please, please, please?!" The boy begged, for as mature as he could be there were sometimes she was brutally reminded he was still just a little kid._

_A very hyper little kid._

_She sighed and stood up before running through a series of hand seals, gathering her chakra and calling out the name of her clans signature move._

_"Shadow Imitation Technique" She whispered out._

_Naruto stood motionless for a few moments waiting for something to happen, frowning as the technique seemingly failed._

_"Eh, Amagi-chan nothing happened!" The boy pouted disappointed she'd gotten his hopes up for nothing._

_Amagi in response simply raised her right arm and pulled her cheek slightly and before he could question the odd action Naruto felt his own arm rise in tandem and felt himself begin tugging on his own cheek._

_"I wouldn't be so sure about that Naruto-kun." She said a hint of mirth in her voice, "Let me help you understand" She said lowering her head to look at the floor and Naruto's body followed along, looking down at his feet._

_Naruto quickly noticed his own shadow seemed to be unnaturally connected to Amagi's shadow creating something resembling a shadowed tether between the two of them._

_His eyes were filled with confusion as he was forced to look straight ahead once more._

_"Do you understand now Naruto-kun?" Amagi asked, "The Nara clan isn't the most flashy of Konoha's larger clans, we prefer a more subtle approach to handling problems." She spoke releasing her hold on his shadow and sitting back down, taking note of his scrunched up face._

_He was adorable when he was utterly lost._

_"The most basic technique of the Nara clan, the Shadow Imitation Technique, allows the caster to force the target to mimic the actions of the user for as long as the technique could be held." She informed him._

_There was more to the move but that knowledge was for clan members only and as much as she liked the boy she had a duty to keep some information on a need to know basis._

_He sadly didn't fall into that category._

_She immediately regretted her limited demonstration as she was suddenly buried under an onslaught of questions about how the technique worked, how long she could hold, how many targets could she hold, and so on._

_She should have lied!_

_Troublesome brat..._

_***Flashback end***_

Amagi had answered as many questions as she could without giving too much away that would go against the rules of her clan.

He didn't like it but he understood and was grateful she had at least been able to answer some of the questions even when she didn't really have too.

He now knew most of the major clans in the village and had a pretty good idea of their bloodlines and clan traits.

The Aburame, Akamichi, Hyuga, Inuzuka, Kurama, Nara, Sarutobi, Yamanaka, Senju, and Uchiha clans were the major players in the village. Each bringing different talents to the village ranging from front line fighters like the Uchiha and Sarutobi clans to trackers like the Inuzuka and Hygua clan.

It had taken him a while to remember them all and the book had mentioned there were smaller minor clans scattered throughout the village as well that lacked either the numbers or skills to be elevated to a higher status.

Part of him was still a bit bitter about the idea of some kids being born with access to really cool abilities while he was stuck with nothing but he buried those feelings, there was no use being upset about things he couldn't have.

A reality he had gotten used to a long time ago.

Regardless he didn't let his lack of any innate hack abilities discourage him, heck, if anything the knowledge only pushed him to work harder, now that he knew others had an innate head start he refused to let himself fall behind!

With that thought in mind, Naruto picked up the pace and sped off towards the village.

He had so much more to do!

* * *

**AN. Chapter finished! **

**I hope you guys enjoyed it as always, this was a tough chapter and I have overall mixed feelings towards it. It was the first chapter I had to rewrite a few times so I hoped it turned out okay and if not I hope to do better next time.**

**For those people who read this chapter without having read the previous authors note I highly recommend going back and reading that if you have concerns regarding the interactions between characters (romance).**

**Two flashbacks this chapter since I wanted to allow some time to pass between the last time skip and an upcoming one. I hope you all don't mind. **

**Let me know what you thought of the chapter and the story as a whole and I will see you all next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, please enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Naruto sighed to himself anxiously as he reorganized his mountain of training notes and scrolls, filing them away as his thoughts wandered once more to the source of his newfound anxiety.

His first day at the Ninja Academy was tomorrow.

Two years had crawled by and he was finally seven years old. Old enough to enter and begin his five-year journey to become an official shinobi of Konoha.

A lot had happened in the past two years he reflected, he'd grown quite a bit now standing at about an even four feet tall, average for his age and a far cry from how short he had been before.

Who would have known only eating ramen wouldn't exactly help him grow?

That hadn't been the only change, his hair now reached about shoulder length and still maintained its wild spiked appearance. He had tried once before to straighten his hair but that didn't turn out very well and he decided to leave it alone, occasionally trimming it when it got too long, but otherwise, he let it be.

The biggest change after his hight was definitely in his body, over the past two years he had slowly increased his training regimen and it definitely showed. He had lost quite a bit of his baby fat leaving him rather lean but he maintained a healthy appearance with a proper diet. He wasn't covered in muscle, he was still too young for that, but already he could see more definition in his body compared to other kids his age and even a few years older.

He hadn't spent the past few years just training himself physically either, he was regularly at the library pouring over scrolls, manuals, books, and whatever notes he could get his hands on to aid in his development. It also helped that he was close friends with the head librarian who would occasionally grant him supervised access to higher level material, giving him a headstart in his studies for when he joined finally joined Academy.

Speaking of friendships, that was one area where his progress had been somewhat mixed. Despite being extremely active the past few years he hadn't actually met many new people due to his focus on training and his slightly reclusive nature. He had, however, deepened his relationships with the few people he did interact with, those mainly being the Ichraku family, Hinata, and Amagi.

The Ichirakus had been concerned at his dwindling presence at their stand and had questioned his whereabouts and health fearing the boy was ill or even worse depressed. He'd quickly reassured them that his disappearance was simply due to the health demands of his training and that he just couldn't afford to indulge as much as he used to. The family had been understanding and even went so far as to add some healthier foods to their menu so he could come by more often.

He'd been touched by their gesture and made sure to stop by more frequently from then on.

His relations with the Hyuga Heiress had improved as well after their initial meeting. The two had bonded rather quickly, their contrasting natures feeding off one another and they met every few weeks when their schedules allowed for it, due to Hinata's own training as heiress she didn't have the freedom to goof off as most children had, they occasionally even trained together with her sneaking off to join him from time to time. That had been the most shocking thing to him, Hinata had grown tremendously more confident very suddenly about a year after they met, she was still rather gentle a majority of the time, but when she was riled up it was best to take cover.

He thought back to the last time some bullies had tried to mess with them and shivered.

_***Flashback***_

_Naruto and Hinata were enjoying lunch under the trees in a nearby park, chatting away happily when they were approached by a gang of 4 rowdy boys looking to start some trouble_

_"Hey! You two!" The apparent head of the group called out to them gruffly._

_Naruto and Hinata turned to face the group, Naruto with a slightly confused look at the interruption while Hinata wore a gentle smile, her eyes closed in a picture of serenity, though if one looked closely they might notice the small twitching in her brow._

_"Eh? Can we help you?" Naruto asked, his head tilted in confusion at the group interrupting their lunch._

_"Yeah, this is our park pipsqueak and if you wanna play in it you have to pay up!" The head goon barked, his followers nodding their heads in agreement behind him._

_Hinata's smile grew more strained and her twitching more violent but this went unnoticed as the group's focus was on the more vocal blond._

_"That's stupid, it's a public park and besides we don't have any money anyway so go bother someone else." The whisker blond replied turning back to his lunch uncaring of the elder boy's demands._

_"Tch, you got some good looking snacks there, how about we take those as payment instead!" The boy said and reached out to grab one of the laid out snacks the two were enjoying._

_Specifically a cinnamon bun._

_Hinata's hand shot out, grabbing the boys wrist with a pressure that was deceptively tight for a girl her size slowly crushing the offending appendage in her delicate hands and drawing a startled yelp of pain from the boy._

_The nerve of these cretins, to interrupt her lunch date, an already unforgivable crime, but then they have the gall to try and steal one of her precious buns..._

_**She would bury them all!**_

_Her smile never left, as she slowly stood her and for the first time she opened her eyes to look upon the trash that had encroached upon her space._

_"Ara, I'm afraid those aren't for you but I have something else you can have, would you like that?" She asked, the kindness in her voice contrasting with the vice grip she maintained on the now whimpering boy._

_Locked in her grip, the bully nodded uncertainly._

_She gave him something alright._

_A mouthful of dirt._

_Naruto watched in awe and slight fear as one by one Hinata gracefully struck each of the boys down, all of them hitting the ground face first filling their mouths with grass and soil._

_Finishing her work Hinata gave a small huff at the exertion, before retaking her seat across from him and grabbing one of her cinnamon buns, tearing a piece off and offering it to him with a radiant smile that was made slightly ominous by the muffled groans of the injured goons beside them._

_He took her gift with a small thank you and made a note not to upset the girl at all costs._

_***Flashback end***_

He honestly felt a bit pity for anyone who got in her way.

Lastly, his relationship with Amagi had only grown stronger as the two would often be found in the library reading together or going over his training schedule, with her offering second opinions or pieces of advice to help him get the most out of a particular exercise or technique.

She had also introduced him to a board game called Shogi, that apparently was really popular within the Nara clan, being one of the few activities they didn't find too troublesome to engage in. He had spent countless hours trying to beat her but he still had yet to accomplish that, though he had come close a few times with their last game ending in a draw, something she had praised him for seeing as few could match an experienced Nara in shogi.

Baring that, not much else had changed for the blond youth and he had been fairly content with how things were for the time being though he supposed now he would have to reorganize his schedule since his mornings would now be taken up classes instead of training.

Naruto decided to think about that later, he wanted to get to bed and be ready for his first day, shaking his head and squashing whatever doubts he had Naruto finished putting the last of his material away before heading to bed.

Tomorrow was going to be interesting.

* * *

Naruto stood nervously at the gates of the Academy the large building towering above him as he waited having arrived a little a bit earlier than needed.

He wanted to make a good first impression and being late to his first day of class probably wouldn't win him any points with his future instructors.

He watched as slowly more and more families dropped their kids off and eventually the field in front of the school filled with children of all ages, some happily chattering amongst themselves reconnecting with old friends, while others hung back trying to make themselves appear as small as possible while they steadied their nerves.

He scanned the crowd looking to see if he could spot Hinata, she had mentioned that she would also be attending this year and he would feel a bit more comfortable around at least one friendly face. Sadly he couldn't spot her in the sea of excited children running around and shuffling back and forth across the field.

Guess he would have to wait to find her later.

He was broken from his thoughts when the sound of a bell rang out, silencing the clearing as the front doors of the Academy opened. For a moment all was still before the older students began making their way inside having gotten used to this routine long ago.

He watched as the younger students followed in the example of their seniors making their way inside and looking for their assigned classrooms.

Naruto lightly fingered a piece of paper in his pocket that had come bundled with his acceptance letter detailing his classroom number.

Room C-9

Merging quickly with the rest of the students he soon found himself wandering the bustling halls as he searched for his assigned room.

"C-6, C-7, C-8, C-9..." He trailed off, standing in front of the sliding wooden door marking the entrance to his new classroom.

He could hear a few hushed voices from within the room, so he clearly wasn't the first to arrive but it didn't sound like he had arrived too late either.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves he slid the door open, taking care not to make too much noise as he did so. He wasn't looking to attract too much attention if he was wrong about being on time.

He stepped inside and was greeted to a mostly empty classroom, a few nondescript students were sat sporadically throughout the room, probably too uncomfortable to engage with one another just yet.

The room was set up in an elevated style with, long rows of seats that got progressively higher and higher. This probably allowed the instructors to keep an eye on everyone without the need to walk up and down rows of students.

He decided to sit in an empty middle row, close enough to the board that he could see clearly but far enough back he wouldn't be directly in front of the instructor.

He still wasn't sure how his sensei would react to him and the last thing he needed was to situate himself directly in front of them if he discovered they had a similar attitude to the majority of the village. Better to play it safe and go for a middle ground approach.

Seeing as the class was still empty Naruto decided he would do a little light reading while the rest of his classmates made their way inside, it would help him unwind a bit which was a bonus.

He quietly lost himself in his reading for about five or so minutes before he felt someone lightly poking at his whiskers. Only two people knew him well enough to touch him so casually so unless Amagi started working as a teacher that only left one culprit...

"Hina-chan stop playing with my whiskers..." He whined, but his smile indicated he was not at all upset with her actions.

She giggled softly at his tone, he always complained when she touched his whiskers but never once moved to stop her, sometimes he would space out and lean into her hand for a few moments before snapping out of it and pulling away before pouting at her.

"Ara, I'm sorry but I can't help myself." She laughed, setting herself down to his right, "Besides everyone is almost here and if I left you to read any more you'd probably miss the entire class." She finished gesturing around her to prove her point.

He blinked and looked up from his book, she was right the classroom was now almost completely full, with the last few stragglers having arrived and finding themselves any leftover seats they could.

He really needed to work on his awareness if he a bunch of kids could walk in without him noticing.

Before he could comment however he heard the classroom door open once more and watched as a man dressed in casual chunin attire made his way to the center of the room before turning to address them all.

He was somewhat plain Naruto admitted to himself, he wore a standard chunin flak jacket with a blue undershirt and blue shinobi pants. Around his head, a Konoha headband sat proudly declaring his allegiance to the village. His hair was done up in a spiked ponytail and he had a large scar running across his nose.

"Good morning everyone!" He spoke, breaking Naruto from his observations as he listened in to what the man had to say.

"My name is Umino Iruka, and I will be your instructor for the next few years starting today. You may address me as Umino-sensei or Iruka-sensei, whichever feels most comfortable to you." He said.

It seemed this guy was a bit more relaxed than he had initially expected, not that he had any problems with that.

The man continued.

"Before we begin today's instruction I will be taking attendance, please stand up when you hear your name, and feel free to correct me if I mispronounce it you will be with me for the foreseeable future so better to get any confusion out of the way early." He finished.

Naruto grinned to himself at this, he hadn't really had the chance to inspect his new classmates so this would be a good chance to make note of any special students.

Iruka began calling students and for the most part, Naruto found his earlier excitement dwindling a bit so far no one had really caught his attention, it seemed like his classmates well all painful average coming from civilian families, excluding Hinata.

He perked up when he heard the next name called, however.

_"Aburame Shino"_

A short hooded boy stood slowly up from his seat in the far corner, very little could be seen of his face, the large hooded jacket he wore covered almost all of his hair, though Naruto could see a few strands of black hair falling out from under it. The boy wore dark black sunglasses masking his eye color.

He couldn't get a good read on him and he resolved to approach the mysterious boy in the future.

_"Akimichi Choji"_

He looked behind him and saw a rather portly boy stand up and give a small wave, a merry if somewhat nervous smile spread across his face. The boy had a mop brown spiked hair that frayed out in almost every direction, slightly narrowed black eyes and a swirl pattern on each of his round cheeks. In his resting hand, he could see the boy carried a small bag of what appeared to be, barbeque potato chips.

Definitely an Akimichi.

A few more names passed before he heard another family name he recognized, though this was much more obscure.

_"Haruno Sakura"_

He blinked in amazement as a young girl sitting in the front row quickly stood and bowed.

He had to take a few moments to register what he was seeing, _was that even natural_? He asked himself.

He was referring to the young girl's hair which was bright pink, exotic when compared to the more common shades or black and brown that dominated the village. He'd also managed to quickly catch a glimpse of her eyes and noted they were a bright, emerald green oddly fitting with her bubblegum hair.

The Haruno clan were a not a predominantly ninja clan but rather a wealthy civilian clan that brought in a lot of trade to the village. Essentially, they bought their prestige through wealth rather than power or ability.

He was brought out of his musings when he felt Hinata sit back down next to him, she must have been called up while he was thinking.

_"Inuzuka Kira"_

A few seats down to his left a young girl quickly stood up, a wild grin on her face as she waved excitedly down at her new sensei. She had a savage look to her with short shaggy brown hair that fell to her neck and sharp eyes with slit pupils adding to her wild appearance. On her cheeks were red upside-down triangles marks resembling fangs denoting her clan.

On her head was a small white dog with brown ears resting happily upon her head who gave a small bark as if to signal its presence as well.

She definitely lived up to the descriptions of her clan that he'd read.

The next one got really got his attention, he knew a lot about this clan.

_"Nara Shikari"_

Turning once again he saw situated next to the Akimichi boy was a small black hair girl resting her head on her palm, lazily taking in her class before sighing and slowly standing up.

Amagi had not been kidding when she told him Nara members did not like to do anything physical.

He studied her closely looking for similarities between her and his friend and noted she possed the same black hair and eyes that Amagi herself had thought this girl kept her hair in a spiked ponytail similar to their sensei and her eyes were a lot sharper giving her what seemed like an almost perpetual frown.

She seemed to notice his gaze and mouthed something quietly to herself before sitting back down and resting her cheek against her palm once again closing her eyes and seemingly nodding off.

_"Uchiha Satsuki"_

Goody, a pair of god eyes were in his class, Naruto was still fully convinced the Sharingan was a total hack ability. Congrats on spending a week learning a jutsu, let me just quickly look at you do it once and make it my own real fast.

Yes, he was bitter so sue him.

He looked towards the front and saw a girl with long raven colored hair and onyx eyes stand up, a small scowl that looked more like a pout on someone her age's face as she nodded towards their sensei before sitting back down.

He had an odd feeling deep down that he wasn't going to like that girl very much but decided to at least be civil, it wouldn't be fair of him to judge without at least getting to know her.

"...Uzumaki Naruto"

He had caught the brief pause that had accompanied his name and could see a slight frown on Iruka's face as he looked up from his list to find him, eyes darting to the few students he hadn't already called.

Wonderful.

Standing up and giving a bow Naruto locked eyes with his new sensei for a moment the two said nothing merely looking at each other before Iruka quietly nodded and marked him off signaling him to sit back down.

Naruto plopped down with a slight huff, he'd seen irritation in the man's gaze but not outright hatred. He supposed that was better than the alternative, at least the man seemed to be giving him a fair shake.

Last up was...

_"Yamanaka Ino"_

A young platinum blonde girl stood cheerfully a large smile on her face as she gave a quick bow that sent he ponytail swaying back and forth. She was very similar to him with both being blonds and possessing blue eyes, though hers were a much lighter shade of than his own.

She was not what he'd expected from a mindwalker but she was still a child so who was to say how she would end up.

With attendance done, Iruka began to explain what material they would be covering this year and taking the occasional question thrown his way by curious students here and there.

Naruto tuned most of this out, his thoughts centering around the fact that he was in a class with a member from almost every major within the village, this presented an extremely rare opportunity to discover more about the clans than he had previously thought possible.

The upcoming years suddenly seemed a lot more promising than before.

* * *

**AN. Chapter complete!**

**So much done this time, I did say the last chapter a large time skip was coming up and here it is, a small jump in the grand scheme of things but the biggest so far.**

**Lots to cover here:**

**Hinata's personality changes for one, I didn't plan on writing the stuttering every time she spoke and seeing as she is close to our protagonist that needed to be addressed. It will be explained eventually why she shifted suddenly but for now, enjoy a more confident (and slightly possessive) Hinata.**

**Second, almost all the future rookies have been introduced (not including Team Guy obviously) and that means you all know what characters have been changed so far.**

**Kiba, Sasuke, and Shikamaru or should I say Kira, Satsuki, and Shikari.**

**-Future me again: If you somehow feel these changes ruin the story I really push you to think of what else these characters would do if left alone. Sure maybe friendship between some of them, rivalries, and some story moments here and there but overall their role would have been minor. You are reading fiction so don't just discount something because its a departure from what you expected. In the context of this story it allows me to write them in a way I find interesting and more present.**

**If you don't like it than by all means you are free to feel that way and stop reading but if you are upset the story took a turn you just don't _personally_ like/approve of rather than comment at me about something that won't change just click off, the story is 20 something chapters in so there is really nothing to be done by this point.**

**Why these three?**

**For fun and because two of the three I have not seen explored a ton but have plenty of viable interactions with both the world and Naruto that I wanted the option to explore. And Satsuki because I am somewhat curious about how I can structure her and Naruto's interactions.**

**Why another fem Nara?**

**Amagi for all her personality and exposure will inevitably be seen less and less as she takes a less prominent role in Naruto's life (at least for the foreseeable future) so this lets me expand on those idea's without forcing her character where it has no place being. Shikari and Amagi will have some similarities (clan related) but will be different don't worry.**

**Massive gender imbalance?**

**Yeah, I noticed that too but when you throw in team guy (who just letting you know now I won't be changing) it smooths it out a little on top of future characters we'll see and I'd rather have fun and create an interesting story overall.**

**Why not change some of the girls to boys if you wanted to keep the balance?**

**That requires a lot more changes that I'm not fully confident I can get across well than taking the existing trait of the guys and softening (or heightening) them. Maybe in a future story, I'll give that a try.**

**Will other characters change too? **

**Wait and see maybe yes, maybe no.**

**For anyone concerned that this will suddenly devolve into a slice of life harem fanfic please have no fear everything will be natural and make sense I promise, I already stated the changes aren't to make the characters trophies but actual people with unique interactions. **

**I hope you all enjoyed leave your feedback and I can't wait to see you all next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, enjoy**

**AN PLEASE READ!**

**I don't like starting off with an author's note, usually saving them for the end of the chapter but with everything that happened in the last chapter, I feel the need to talk about some things.**

**There were some concerns about why I made certain characters female. I have spoken about this before but I will say again, that those changes were planned from the start and I made it known in the first main AN after chapter 3 that this would be happening.**

**I really do encourage people to read over the ANs (both the big ones and the small ones at the end of chapters) to keep themselves aware of big changes or story points.**

**But as for why the choice was made, well its because I'm not here to retell the story of Naruto. That story exists and you can find it easily, simultaneously I'm not here to tell a box cutter 'smarter Naruto' story either.**

**I want to create a story that people can look at and see the creative elements within it, not just having this be "A pretty good smart Naruto story" that doesn't do much else (even if I fail to finish it or it goes off in a direction I wasn't expecting). I don't enjoy reading the same story over and over and I didn't decide to start writing just to create those same stories.**

**With that said for those enjoying the story so far I hope you continue to enjoy it and let me know your thoughts on how things are progressing.**

* * *

Naruto's opinion on the Academy was, in a word...

Complicated.

He understood the Academy was designed to educate, train, and guide its charges in their endeavor to become proud shinobi of Konoha. All well and good and his mind.

_**SO WHY WAS IT SO BORING?!**_

Naruto banged his head silently on his desk, he wasn't expecting to be handed new jutsu or high-level taijutsu from day one, he understood the value of learning the basics, but they weren't even covering the basics yet!

No, instead they got history.

Naruto swore if he had to hear about how great the Shodai was one more time he was gonna shove a tree branch down his throat!

He had been tempted to skip class and return to his morning training but decided to forgo that after Hinata pointed out to him it wouldn't look good for him to gain a reputation for playing hooky.

He reluctantly agreed, and so here he sat watching Iruka drone on and on about the significance of the Clan War era and how amazing an accomplishment the founding of the village actually was blah blah blah...

Maybe he should just make a run for it...

Before Naruto could put his plan into action, Iruka clapped loudly gathering the classes attention and waking those who had fallen asleep during his lecture.

He could however still hair the faint snoring of a certain Nara behind him and chuckled quietly to himself, picturing a certain librarian doing something similar at her own desk.

"SHIKARI WAKE UP!" The man bellowed this was a regular occurrence for Iruka, she was not the first Nara he'd taught.

Naruto swore he heard her mutter curses quietly to herself as she slowly sat up.

"...Troublesome sensei"

"Since you all seem to think my lessons are sleepings aids today we will be moving onto something more physical" Iruka started, giving a small glare towards a few repeat offenders.

"I am going to have you all paired up for supervised spars to gauge where you are stand both skill wise and physically, please make your way out to the training yards." He finished and briskly made his way out to set up the practice rings.

Naruto couldn't help but smirk a bit at the thought of finally doing something practical. Sure he didn't completely hate history, but he had long since learned a lot of what they were covering years ago with Amagi's guidance making class somewhat of a chore.

Sparring, however, was something he was definitely into! he had only ever sparred with Hinata on a few occasions, and even then the two were somewhat reluctant to actually harm one another, so they were more mock spars than anything really.

Here though, under the supervision of trained instructors and strangers as his opponents, he could afford to cut loose a bit more.

He quickly made his way outside with the rest of his class and they formed a single file line, right in front of the training field awaiting further instruction.

Looking up and down the line he could see some of his peers were clearly more excited than others to finally get their hands dirty taking note of the cocky but excited smirk of their resident Uchiha and the fanged grin spread across the Inuzuka's face.

Meanwhile, the chubby Akimichi seemed downright terrified at the prospect of hurting anyone, nervously munching away at his chips as he waited anxiously.

Iruka arrived a few moments later and stood in front of them, quietly taking in their varied expression perhaps judging how best to approach this next step in their journey.

"As I said before these matches will just test to see where you are all at individually so I have a better idea of what to work on with you all." He started, hoping to reassure students that they were not going to be penalized for performing poorly here.

"I know some of you will have been taught small bits of your clans preferred fighting styles, while others may not have any style at all, or even fought before. That's okay, just do your best for the moment." He finished before holding up a sheet of paper.

"For this exercise, I will be picking your opponents to try and keep things somewhat fair, but in future, you will occasionally be allowed to pick your preferred opponents!" Iruka had learned it was better for him to pick out the matchup unless he wanted to see some poor civilian born student get blind sighted by a clan child.

It didn't teach him much and all it did was discourage civilians from further pursuing the career.

"When I call your name please step into the ring and wait for my instructions!" he said before running down his list.

Naruto watched with minor interest at the first few fights, they were nothing special seeing as Iruka had pitted the civilian children against each other first and with no real fighting style matches quick devolved into brute force matches based more on strength than technique.

He had paid slightly more attention to the pink haired Haruno's match though, despite her frail appearance, she apparently had a mean right hook, something her opponent hadn't expected, judging by the shocked look in their eyes as they rolled out of the ring, granting her the victory.

"Hinata Hyuga and Yamanaka Ino" He heard Iruka shout.

He reached over and gave Hinata a slight pat on the back for encouragement, earning him a bright smile from the girl as she made her way to the left side of the ring, opposite of her blond-haired opponent.

* * *

Hinata stared ahead at the Yamanaka heiress and considered her options. This was a strictly, taijutsu only fight. Those who'd already had their chakra unlocked, mainly clan children, were prohibited from using it and had to rely completely on physical prowess alone to win.

That put her at a slight disadvantage, her clans fighting style relied heavily on chakra usage to do damage and incapacitate foes.

That said it wasn't as big a handicap as it seemed initially, especially not for something like a quick spar. The gentle fist style could also be used without chakra, though with less efficiency.

Striking her target rapidly with just the tips of her fingers worked rather well on its own, the smaller surface area combined with the proper amount of force, created an intense stinging pain that with enough time could wear an opponent down and made opponents twitchy.

Giving her signature gentle smile Hinata bowed to her opponent and waited for the signal to begin watching as the young blond across from her fell into her own stance.

"Begin!" Iruka shouted.

She gave her opponent little time to collect herself, darting forward she quickly slipped into the girl's guard and launched two rapid finger jabs into the girl's stomach. Immediately destroying whatever counteroffensive she could have planned as the blond's arms rapidly moved to her abused stomach trying to defend against any more punishment and sooth the sharp pain in her lower body.

That was a mistake on her part.

Hinata quickly sent an open palm crashing right into the girl's chin, pushing the blond backward and shattering her balance as without her arms available to help steady her she quickly stumbled back, unable to handle the unexpected onslaught.

Seeing the girl back peddle to the edge of the ring she quick launched her smaller frame into the girl's torso shoulder first to maximize her force and watched as the young Yamanaka was sent flying out of the ring landing solidly on her back.

"Winner, Hinata Hyuga"

Her smile never left her face as she walked back over to Naruto quickly brought her into a one-armed hug congratulating her on her quick and flawless victory.

She thanked Kami his eyes always closed when he grinned, she didn't want him to see the slight flush of red gracing her cheeks at the contact.

* * *

A few more fights had gone by, Shikari and Choji had been paired together although that proved a poor choice when they somehow both managed to get thrown out of the ring at the same time.

He would be willing to bet money that it wasn't an accident either.

Shino had been paired against Satsuki and that had proved somewhat disappointing as well, while the Aburame boy was able to briefly keep pace with her aggressive assault, the clear divide in their specialties proved itself when she finally managed to wear him down and swiftly pummeled him, forcing Iruka to call the match before any real damage could be done.

He noted the frustrated frown on the Uchiha's face as she walked back into line.

It seems she wasn't satisfied with her match.

"Last match, Kira Inuzuka and Naruto Uzumaki!"

He heard an excited yell come from the feral looking girl as she bounded to her place on the practice field practically shaking in anticipation.

It seemed like he was going to have a real fight on his hands.

He felt Hinata poke his cheek softly, her way of wishing him luck, a habit she'd picked up after he would pull hers when she stuttered or didn't say what she actually meant.

He sent her a play pout before making his way to the field and taking his place across from his eager foe.

Naruto quickly went over everything he knew about the Inuzuka clan looking for anything that would offer him an edge in his fight.

They were excellent trackers possessing heightened senses of taste, touch, sight, hearing, and especially smell.

They were also frontline fighters, savage in combat tearing through anything in their path with fangs and claws, not to mention brave to an almost unreasonable degree which made intimidation near impossible.

He was reminded of a quote he'd heard somewhere before about the tenacity of even the smallest Inuzuka.

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, its the size of the fight in the dog in the dogfight."

Staring into the eager slit eyes of his opponent he couldn't help but notice a lot of fighting spirit in there.

He did, however, recall one piece of information he'd managed to find in an old worn out text from someone who had fought with and against members from the clan that might help him.

Younger and more inexperienced clan members tended to have a slight tunnel vision, focusing heavily on more telegraphed attacks but had trouble properly defending against misdirection and feints.

He didn't know how true that was but he would keep it in mind.

"Begin!"

Hearing the starting signal Naruto decided to allow the feral girl to come to him and start on the defense. He knew that without a proper style he was at a disadvantage but hopefully his conditioning would allow him to tank some hit and react quickly enough to her offensive.

She wasted no time falling upon him like a rabid dog lashing out with a heavy punch hoping to blitz him with her higher than average speed.

He caught her fist and quickly sent his own returning punch into her surprised face, causing her to step back slightly, but not deterred in the slightest.

Did she look...more excited?!

She was on him once again and he was forced to dodge a barrage of punches and swipes, grunting in discomfort as a few of her swings managed to land or clip him as he weaved through and around strikes.

He could take punishment, but not forever.

He decided to go for something rather risky, seeing an incoming punch he grabbed her fist once again, bating her.

Predicting he was going for another punch the Inuzuka launched her free arm first, intending to repay him for his earlier counter.

He caught that too leaving them deadlocked in the center of the ring neither able to make a move.

Or at least that's what she'd thought.

Quickly pulling her forward Naruto brought his forehead harshly into contact with hers in a savage headbutt that left her seeing stars for a moment.

She wasn't the only one, Naruto stumbled slightly, releasing her arms as he did his best to shake off the ringing in his ears.

He needed to press his advantage!

Rounding on the still equally dazed girl he went on the offensive, his aim...

Put her down fast and put her down hard.

Kira still reeling from the unexpected attack was unprepared for the fist that crashed into her cheek, neither was she prepared for the one to her stomach, or her arms, or her chest.

She was too stunned to react as the blows rained down upon her, she couldn't even face her attacker, every attempt was met with another strike to the face and only increased the pounding in her head weakening her further.

She felt her legs get swept out from under her, sending her body crashing into the hard ground and a weight land roughly upon her still reeling stomach. Her arms were forced above her head and pinned tightly.

She felt the blows stop and took a moment to finally gather herself and look up at her whiskered opponent.

He towered over her, his chest heaving from both adrenalin and exhaustion from his attacks, she could see slight scuff marks on his clothes and face from where she'd managed to clip him with a few of her attacks and his forehead was colored red from the impact of the headbutt he'd hit her with.

Narrowed blue eyes bore into black as the two took a moment to savor the moment of peace and regain some energy trying to recover.

She looked at him through her blurry eyes, she hadn't thought much of the blond at first, thinking this was going to be an easy fight.

She could only kick herself at where that line of thought had brought her, pinned beneath the blond she felt anger at her loss and at the pain shooting through her head and body.

For a runt, he hit pretty hard!

At the same time though she felt satisfied, and she admitted she had fun! The Inuzuka were a rough bunch and it felt good to know there was one person at least who wasn't afraid to match her blow for blow.

"Match completed via pin, winner, Naruto Uzumaki!"

At the announcement, she saw the boy's glare vanish being replaced by a bright smile as he quickly stood up and offered her a hand.

"That was a fun match, I hope we can do it again sometime!" He said as though they hadn't just been trying to beat each other black and blue.

Kira stared his outstretched hand for a moment before taking it and allowing him to help her up.

He was a weird one but she couldn't deny she wanted to fight him again too.

And next time she would show him who was boss!

She offered him her clans signature feral smile and nodded her head in an affirmative

They would be fighting again soon if she had her way.

The two gave one last solid shake before splitting off and returning to their respective spots, Naruto being quickly fussed over by a worried Hinata and herself attend to by her faithful canine companion licking at her wounds in his own attempt to help soothe her.

Iruka stepped forward, with the final match completed he quickly addressed the class.

"You all did very well today," He said, focusing their attention back onto him "I have a solid idea of where you all stand and next week we will begin your physical training alongside instruction in the basic Academy style for those of you lacking one currently."

As he finished his announcement the final bell went off signaling the end of the day and start of the weekend, already he could hear the patter of feet of students from other classes rushing to meet their families or begin their trip home.

"Dismissed," He said chuckling in amusement as he watched his charges bolt towards the door, eager to pick up their bags and head home.

Naruto and Hinata chatted happily as they exited the Academy building, recalling their own individual matches and the few notable fights they'd seen between other members of their class thinking of moves they could incorporate into their own fighting styles and how to better prepare for future spars.

They were interrupted however by a familiar voice calling out to them, or more specifically Naruto.

"Hey! Blondie!" a gruff but distinctly feminine voice yelled out.

The two turned around and found themselves face to face with none other than Kira Inuzuka, she was panting a little as she slowed her stride to stand in front of them.

Naruto always the first to open his mouth responded cheerfully to his new sparring partner.

"Hi, Kira, what's up?" He asked, not at all intimidated by her appearance

Actually, now that he was paying attention he noticed she was actually a few inches taller than him, standing at about four foot three, add that to her more feral appearance and it wasn't surprising that some of their classmates were afraid of her.

Despite being the one to seek them out Kira suddenly seemed a bit embarrassed offering a sheepish grin, her sharp canines peeking out from her lip.

"A-Ah, well I wanted to say thanks ya know? For the fight I mean" She said, quickly clarifying, "I don't really get to go all out like that often, so I was kinda hoping..." she trailed off a bit, a hint of red on her cheeks.

_Why was this so difficult?!_

No one noticed Hinata's smile growing slightly more strained as she watched the interaction.

"Yeah?" Naruto question, tilting his head in confusion.

"W-Well I was kinda hoping we could hang out and do it again sometime soon, you know if that's cool with you I mean!" She asked trying to keep her composure at her rather unorthodox request.

Who asked someone to be their friend just to fight them?

Naruto thought about it for a moment, Kira was strong and she seemed friendly enough...

"Sure, I'd be happy to and I'm sure Hinata would like to join us, right Hina-chan?" He said simply, a small smile on his face as nodded.

"Ah, of course, it would be my honor." Said the bluenette, reigning in her twitching, she would have joined them regardless.

She had to watch for any vultures.

Kira nodded and gave a toothy smile, relief spreading through her that he hadn't denied her request.

"Hehe, cool I have to go, my sister is back there waiting for me, but I'll see you guys Monday!" She said waving as she sprinted off to the other side of the filed and out of sight leaving the two to watch on in silence as she disappeared.

"I think that went well." The blond said, spinning on his heel and walking off towards his earlier destination.

Hinata could only give a small laugh at her friend's rather easy going response before quickly making her way to him, falling into step at his side as they resumed their prior conversation.

Just another day in the Hidden Leaf Village.

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**An. Chapter complete!**

**Hope you all enjoyed this I tried to flesh out a few characters a little bit this time, we are going to spend some chapters in the Academy to get to know some of the more pivotal characters but by the end of that you will have an understanding of pretty much everyone.**

**I also wanted to do some more fight scenes since I've never really written them before having much more interest in character interactions as opposed to who can punch who harder but I will try and improve there or maybe keep fights shorter to avoid boring people if they are really bad.**

**Please leave me some reviews telling me what you liked, what you didn't, any questions you have, and even who you want to see get some more focus next chapter I do want you guys to have some input on events! **

**I also do wanna say a big thanks to everyone who supports this story, its really nice to have my first work be received so well even with some of its changes and I will work to make this a story that continues to be worth reading.**

**See you guys next time!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer I own nothing, with that said carry on!**

**I want to say the timetable for the academy chapters may be a bit vague, essentially being that this is school life and I want to get through it but don't want to rush it at the same time so sorry if it seems like I'm jumping around a lot. **

**Some characters will get fleshed out more than others but they will eventually get covered post academy and beyond.**

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"95...96...97...98...99..100..." A young voice counted out slowly, the strain in their voice indicating some form of heavy physical activity.

Naruto lay sprawled out in the center of his old training field, his chest rapidly rising and falling as he tried to regulate his breathing, and banish the familiar burning sensation in his arms that accompanied his physical.

He still hated pushups with a burning passion.

Taking a few minutes to rest Naruto took a moment to review the pasts six months since he'd joined the Academy. Being totally honest he had barely noticed the time go by at all he was always busy either attending class, training, or reading and it was rather easy to lose track of time.

Not to say he hadn't accomplished anything in that time, far from it in fact he had perhaps taken the two most important steps forward towards his goal within the past few months.

The first being he had finally found a taijutsu style that fit him.

True to his word Iruka had followed up their impromptu sparing matches with both an evaluation of their standing and advice on where to improve. He had received high marks for speed and power, but his lack of proper technique forced him to make unnecessary and high-risk maneuvers, Iruka citied his headbutt that while effective, still left him vulnerable and relied too heavily on his ability to recover faster than his opponents to be useful.

He had been slightly upset at the critique seeing as he had won his match but had to admit if his opponent had been a more experienced fighter he probably would not have gotten so lucky.

That knowledge had made him anxious to see if maybe any of the Academy styles would help refine his fighting, seeing as there were three variations of it to help accommodate for different types of students.

_The Iron Oak_ style for more defensive oriented students who could take a hit and allowed the user to punish openings left by attackers.

_The Winding Willow_ style for speedy students who preferred waiting to evade attacks and retaliating with quick strikes, while weaving in and out of an opponents guard.

Lastly, the _Burning Pine_ style was an all-out aggression style for those who wanted nothing more than overwhelm their opponents with a flurry of attacks never giving them the chance to counter.

His results with the three had been mixed, however...

He had been able to incorporate some moves from each into his brawler/boxer like style giving it a bit more finesse than he'd had before, however, none of the styles truly felt right to him in their full forms, with the Willow style coming closest but it was too passive for his taste, leaving him somewhat out of luck.

So, he decided to do what he always did when he ran into a roadblock.

Go to the library.

Contrary to popular belief one did not actually have to be a Shinobi to gain access to certain areas of the shinobi section of the library. Information on things like chakra control, taijutsu techniques, and jutsu theory was all readily available to the public.

The village wasn't going to hamper its citizens who wanted to learn to defend themselves or civilian children who didn't have ninja relatives to fall back on by keeping everything locked and hidden away.

The only requirements to get into the shinobi section without being a registered ninja were to submit a form to gain a pass, which was more so for security than anything, or...

Be a student attending the Shinobi Academy.

He had heavily abused that newfound knowledge to spend hours going over scrolls and various texts trying to find a proper style for himself.

Within a week he had what he had been looking for.

_The Hummingbird style_.

The Hummingbird style, at first glance, reminded him of the Winding Willow style, with both placing a high emphasis on speed to engage enemies. The difference that caught his attention was that the Hummingbird style wasn't about pure evasion, but rather using speed to dance around the target using unpredictable movement patterns to confuse the enemy when attacking.

He spent a few days running through the beginner forms detailed in the scroll and felt it immediately click with him. It played to his strengths and had room to be tweaked if he decided he wanted to pick up a weapon in the future as well.

He had spent the next month and a half getting the basics down and was now working on the starting intermediate moves.

The second big event blew even that out of the water though.

He had finally had his Chakra unlocked!

_***Flashback***_

Naruto sat in a meditative pose, his eyes closed as Iruka's voice softly explained the process of feeling out their locked chakra cores.

Despite all people possessing Chakra, it wasn't inherently active within them from birth, instead, it sort of just sat in the coils, moving slowly almost like sludge through a pipe doing just enough to keep its owner alive but not enough to be used for anything else.

This slow flow allowed for a person's chakra network to stabilize over time before finally settling, at which point the flow would almost completely stop.

Ninja, however, learned to call upon their chakra moving it throughout their bodies and forcing the flow to continue, this had the side effect of expanding their coils and allowing for the production of more chakra, essentially chakra acted like a muscle and through training, it would grow and expand.

The caveat to all this is that the longer someone waited to activate their chakra system the harder it became to get it moving and at a certain point it was near impossible to call upon it at all.

It is why civilians never suddenly dropped their professions to become shinobi.

However, if a person chakra system was activated too early the coils could be damaged which was not a pleasant outcome either so it eventually became standard practice to have children unlock their chakra from the ages of around six to about ten, any later and the odds of them unlocking it fell dramatically.

Iruka spoke again breaking him from his thoughts as he refocused on his sensei's words.

"I will be going around to administer the booster shot that'll jumpstart your chakra systems, don't be afraid of the feeling but instead follow it and try to drag your own chakra with it." He explained.

The booster shot wasn't like the ones a doctor would give, it would be more appropriate to call it a chakra injection.

The process broken down was rather simple someone essentially shot a pulse of chakra through you, the pulse would drag your own chakra speeding up the circulation so that you could feel it and begin moving it on your own.

There was a lot of theory behind it that he wasn't even going to try and understand, he was more focused on finding it first before he worked out how it moved.

"Naruto are you ready?" He heard Iruka ask above him.

"Yes, Sensei!" He replied, immediately perking up eager to begin.

"Alright, remember to try and drag your chakra once you feel it moving inside you," Iruka replied.

Naruto nodded and felt the man place a hand on his back and drew in a breath in preparation...

"Release!" Iruka called out, launching a series of chakra pluses through the boy.

Naruto waited anxiously searching for any feeling whatsoever...

Nothing, he didn't feel any different or even anything unusual.

"Um, Sensei I don't feel anything..." He spoke, confusion and slight fear in his tone as he looked towards his instructor for help.

Iruka was silent for a few moments contemplating this news, he tried shooting a few more pules but the boy remained adamant he couldn't feel anything.

That left Iruka with two possibilities either the boy had a malfunctioning chakra network, or...

He'd already had his chakra unlocked and he didn't know it.

People who already had their chakra unlocked could barely feel the booster shot due to the fact their chakra was already circulating and the change wasn't noticeable enough for them to register it.

"Naruto I want you to try something for me." He said, "I want you to imagine a small blue flame right in the middle of your stomach and focus as hard as you can on it."

Naruto closed his eyes and tried visualized what his instructor had asked, he gradually felt a warm sensation around his lower stomach as slowly a flicker of azure flame appeared in his mind sitting at the center of his body.

"Okay sensei..." He whispered, trying to hold onto the feeling.

"Now try and spread that flame through you." He said.

Naruto took a breath and gave a small mental heave, willed the flame to grow and fill him.

It flickered briefly expanding slightly but remained unmoving.

He tried once more with force, calling out to it and commanding it obey his wishes.

The flame did more than flicker this time, it surged forward consuming Naruto as his mind's eye was suddenly overtaken by a sea of blue fire the warmth flooding his body and his mind succumbing to the feeling of power surging through him.

The reaction on the outside was arguably just as volatile.

The boy's body hummed with visible arcs of blue energy blanketing him in a cloak of raw power, chakra rolled off him in waves and carried enough force to actually create a small gust of wind that sent dust and bits of debris scattering across the wooden floor.

"Naruto that's enough!" The distressed voice of Iruka called out snapping him out of his daze.

"Huh?" He blond blinked slowly temporarily forgetting where he was, having been lost in the seemingly endless expanse of fire and the lingering warmth he felt surging throughout his body, a foreign but at the same time familiar feeling.

Iruka had never seen a child possess that much raw chakra, the boy easily had almost as much if not more than he himself possessed and he wasn't even half his age!

Immediately Iruka's thoughts drew him to perhaps the most obvious conclusion. This wasn't just any ordinary boy, but the container to the beast that had almost flattened the entire village...

Iruka took a few moments to compose himself, he had resolved to give the boy a chance and it wouldn't do to start letting fear influence him unless the boy gave him something to worry about he would be impartial.

"It seems like you'd already unlocked your chakra Naruto, you just had to draw it out." He told the boy.

Naruto's faced scrunched up in confusion, how would his chakra system already be active? As far as he knew no one had started it for him.

Seeing the lost look Iruka was quick to guess the troubled youth's thoughts and offered his own suggestion.

"Its possible for a person's chakra system to be activated while they are under heavy stress, perhaps at one point or another you unintentionally managed to start yours without help." He offered.

Naruto frowned slightly at the explanation, something about it still didn't seem to fit in his mind, barring a few close calls with drunken villagers he couldn't recall anything that would fit that criteria.

It seemed like another question in a long list of concerns he had about his life.

For now, he would move his focus once again to what he could work with, specifically his newly acquired access to chakra!

_***Flashback end***_

He had been ecstatic at the knowledge that he possed such a large pool and wanted to start trying out jutsu right away the idea of bending the elements to his will being almost too much to resist. He quickly found out, however, that he wouldn't gain access to the ninjutsu section of the library until his third year of the Academy.

Amagi had told him it was done to prevent civilians from getting ahold of dangerous techniques then dropping the program, it was assumed by the third year you were probably going to finish and become a ninja after all the physical and mental investment.

That news had been a rather harsh blow to his newfound excitement.

He had, however, been able to work on his chakra control instead seeing that he had absolutely massive reserves Iruka had helpfully advised him to begin the leaf balancing exercises which entailed sticking leaves to his body with just his chakra.

That was easier said than done because for almost a week and a half he hadn't been able to stick more than two leaves on himself at any given time and even then he could only do it for a few minutes before he lost concentration and they were blasted off forcing him to start again.

He took some small solace in the knowledge that at the very least he'd gotten an early start before his reserves had gotten too big to manage. He would have plenty of time to work on his control while he attended the Academy.

After months of hard work he could now do the exercise with up to about ten leaves without too much trouble though he was still working to improve that, he'd even changed his training around to include chakra control exercises during his breaks just to make sure he didn't neglect it.

His social life had also improved somewhat during this time as well. He stuck to his word and invited Kira to train with him and Hinata which had proved... interesting to say the least.

Kira in a way rounded out their little group with her brash attitude and excitable personality that managed to bring even the ever gentle Hinata out of her shell.

Granted it was usually in a violent manner through teasing and jostling the smaller girl until she snapped and attacked the Inuzuka.

Kira took it in stride though and was always more than happy to spar with the Hyuga heiress and he could tell that despite herself Hinata enjoyed having someone to just let loose on from time to time.

His relationship with her was a lot more straightforward, she had flat out admitted she just enjoyed fighting with him, unlike Hinata's more graceful approach, the way he rougher way he fought was a lot closer to her own family style and apparently that made him the perfect candidate to perfect her own style with.

He had to admit she kept him on his toes, spacing out in the middle of their spars had landed him with a good few cuts from her sharpened nails on more than one occasion.

He'd quickly learned to keep his thoughts off the battlefield unless he wanted to walk around looking like a mummy.

His relations with the rest of his classmates were somewhat mixed being either fairly positive or really negative.

He'd become close with the heirs of the Aburame, Nara, and Akimichi clans and was often seen with one or more of them during lunch or recess, he was not as close as he was with say Hinata or even Kira but he was confident that with time they would grow closer.

On the other hand, he was not at all popular with the Haruno and Yamanaka heirs. Though that had less to do with his personality or even how he treated them.

It was actually because of his none too subtle rivalry with none other than Uchiha Satsuki.

Even thinking of her annoyed him, he'd tried early on to befriend the girl but she had brushed him off with barely a glance like he was beneath her notice.

If that had been the end of it he probably wouldn't have cared but it seemed fate had other plans for the two.

The Uchiha heiress had been more than content to completely ignore him until they had been paired together in a spar a few weeks later with Iruka wanting to see how much he had progressed since their talk especially since he wasn't studying any of the Academy styles.

The fight itself wasn't notable since Iruka still made sure to interfere if anything looked to be going too far and with the aid of his newly found taijutsu style he'd managed to fight her to a draw.

That was saying something as Satsuki was arguably one of the best fighters in their class with only Hinta, Kira, and himself being able to challenge her at all when it came to pure hand to hand combat.

After that, the Uchiha had apparently made it her personal goal to beat him in anything and everything, test scores, weapons throwing, and of course their weekly spars.

She made it a point to always choose him as her sparring partner when the chance presented itself to the point no one besides Hinata and Kira even bothered to pick him anymore!

He'd called her out on it more than once but she only ever responded with vague insults or grunts.

_"Your stupid face pisses me off idiot, that's the only reason I need." she sneered at him, arms crossed in her usual aloof pose._

Her apparent distaste of him convinced those who admired her to dislike him too, so Sakura and Ino avoided him when possible being big fans of the girl for whatever reason.

He'd long since given up on understanding them and he had better things to do with his time anyway.

He decided he'd spent enough time sitting around and so he picked himself up and began his treck home, he still had a whole week of homework from before break that he needed to finish and he didn't need another lecture from Iruka like the last time he forgot to do it.

He made a mental note to himself to maybe stop waiting until the last minute to do his assignments...

"You look like crap whiskers." Kira's teased, amusement in her voice as she took in his tired appearance, the boy had small bags under his eyes as he leaned tiredly against his desk.

"Bite me, Kira." He yawned out, he didn't realize just how long it would take to get all of his work done, he had worked well into the night to complete it all.

"Don't think I won't whiskers." She replied with her signature fanged grin, getting a concerned sideways glance from the blond.

She had actually bit him before so he wouldn't put it past her to do so if he pushed her.

"How is it you're more of an animal than Akamaru?" Hinata sighed out shaking her head at her friend's behavior.

"I don't know, how do you sit straight with that stick up your butt princess?" Kira shot back, "When do you plan on taking it out?"

Despite her harsh words, there was no real heat in her voice, having long since grown used to this routine the two were aware everything was said in jest.

Hinata released an unladylike snort at the question.

"Why do you ask? Are you hoping I'll let you use it play fetch perhaps?" She shot back her face the picture of serenity as always.

"Oi! Are You looking for a fight princess?!" The feral girl barked out rising from her seat.

"Why are you three always so noisy..." A tired voice complained from behind them.

Naruto tilted his head back and saw the irate face of Shikari glaring down at them.

Well, as much as a sleepy Nara can glare anyway.

"Heyo, Shika-chan." The blond greeted, not at all phased by her irate gaze offering a small wave to the girl.

"I thought I told you not to call me that you troublesome blond." She complained, resting her cheek in her palm.

"Shika, I'm hurt!" The blond gasped dramatically, " Are you saying you don't like my nickname for you?!"

His response was an eraser hitting him in the face.

"You're so mean to me Shika-chan." He pouted.

"Idiot..." She muttered shaking her head before returning to her nap, her arms acting as a makeshift pillow.

"Ano, you shouldn't tease Shikari so much Naruto, you know she doesn't like it." Choji's voice called out from next to the sleeping girl, the portly boy was happily munching away at his chips as usual.

"Aww, it's fine we all know Shika-chan loves me." He replied with a small grin.

Another eraser smacked into the side of his head.

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE SLEEPING?!" he yelled rounding back on the black haired girl.

She simply flipped him off, not even bothering to raise her head at him. The girl was actually rather vulgar for her age something he'd quickly found out within days of getting to know her.

Amagi had suggested it was due to Nara children maturing a bit quicker than most, they tended to pick up some bad habits early. She reluctantly admitted she had taken to drinking rather early in her teenage years before breaking the habit.

Mostly anyway.

He could hear Hinata and Kira laughing quietly to themselves at his plight, well Hinata was quiet about it, Kira did nothing to hide her amusement and was rocking in her chair with mirth.

"You are all jerks." The blond pouted drawing small circles on his desk with his finger

"I do believe you were warned Naruto-san, you have no one to blame but yourself." A quiet voice spoke out to his far right.

"Thank you for your input Shino, I really appreciate it." The blond said offering a deadpan stare at the bespectacled boy.

Shino was a passive member of their group only occasionally offering his opinions on anything but when he did it was almost always an opinion buried in logic or dry humor at someone's expense, though he swore that latter bit was never his intention.

He didn't believe that one bit.

"I'm detecting a hint of sarcasm in your voice Naruto-san" The boy replied.

Naruto just dropped his head onto his desk, why was he the one being ganged up on damn it he hadn't even started this?!

This morning couldn't possibly get worse.

"You might want to stop doing that I'm not sure you can handle more brain damage, idiot." A smug voice taunted from in front of him.

Kami, you sadistic witch...

"Hi, Satsuki-teme" He sat up looking into the scowling face of his rival/enemy, "Glad you could be bothered to stop glaring at the wall for a few moments to grace us with your unwanted presence."

"Hn, you should be happy I even bother speaking with you at all, thankfully stupid is not contagious or I wouldn't." She said, turning her head away from him.

Naruto just rolled his eyes at her response and put his head back down maybe he could get a few minutes rest before class started...

"Goodmorning everyone! Please pull out your textbooks and open to page 40." Iruka's chipper voice spoke out as he entered the classroom, grabbing his own book as he prepared for the day's lesson.

Naruto could only groan in frustration...

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**AN. New chapter sorry this took a bit I wanted to step back and take a look at where the story was going and what I wanted to do with everything. Do remember this is my first story so I'm not used to this process at all.**

**I am trying to somewhat speed through the Academy because it's not going to be that interesting and I'm very much debating one last BIG time skip to get to graduation but I wanted to do a little bit of characterization before I did something like that.**

**I did get a review in regards to Naruto's taijutsu style and how it would have been nice to give him a real-world style and I actually agreed the problem came with my utter lack of knowledge of real-world martial arts and the desire for flexibility that comes with a made-up style. So I am sorry that I couldn't make that a reality but I went for something somewhat familiar to try and make up for it!**

**I know I did not introduce Sakura or Ino in this chapter and that's because at the moment they are very minor to this story. I wanted to give a better understanding of characters that I tweaked (Satsuki, Shikari, Shino, Hinata, etc) rather than write characters who will develop more later. I'm not ignoring those characters just to be clear.**

**The chakra explanation was my sorta my own thing added for world-building, so no need to like "Hey! That's not how it works!". I know and am doing it just to add more to the world and the story overall.**

**For those who want deeper moments that explain more about characters headspaces like in chapter 3 those will come after graduation when characters face the stress of ninja life, for the moment these are still just kids and so not much is going on.**

**NOTE: I am also toying with the idea of writing a side story (it won't take precedence over this) where I can explore other types of writing be it fluff, crack, lemons, etc so that may happen**

**Anywho that's all for now, hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, that said carry on and enjoy!**

**Little note, this chapter will be the last chapter with a big time skip (multi-year) just to get out of the Academy and into their ninja careers and so on. I decided that while yeah I could try to make the academy interesting there just wasn't enough there unless I wanted to turn the story away from the Naruto storyline and make it a mostly character heavy fic with little else in there.**

**Hopefully, this will be the last major time skip until we move into Shippuden (assuming we get there of course). With that said let's get into the chapter shall we!**

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"NARUTO WAKE THE HELL UP!" Iruka shouted tossing a piece of chalk at the sleeping boys head with a level of pinpoint accuracy that could only have come from years of practice.

"I wasn't sleeping! I was just...resting my eyes..." The sleepy blond countered weakly his face slumped into his folded arms as he tried and failed to look alert.

"Sure you were, need I remind you the graduation exam is tomorrow," The scared chunin lectured, "You could at least try and stay awake for this final lesson."

"Yes, Sensei whatever you say..." The whiskered blond replied sitting up with a small stretch and a yawn as he readjusted himself in his seat.

Iruka rolled his eyes, having long since grown used to the boy's habits he knew lecturing him any further would be pointless so with a huff he turned back to resume his instruction.

Naruto gave another small yawn and leaned back into his chair tuning the man out as his mind wandered to more pressing matters.

His graduation exam.

It really had been five years, five long years since he first entered the gates of the Academy and started a new chapter in his life filled with new people and experiences.

A lot had changed in those five years he reflected, the most obvious being he'd grown quite a bit standing now at about five foot tall a little over average for his age which in his mind was a lot better than being a midget like he had as a young child.

His outfit now consisted of a black hoodie with dark orange bands running along the length of the arms and the famous orange swirl marking that was found throughout the village printed on the back. He wore standard Anbu style black shinobi pants as well finished off with black open-toed shinobi sandals.

Simple but efficient and also pretty comfy if you asked him.

His personality had also changed somewhat, he was a lot calmer now than he'd ever been, not to say he couldn't still be pretty rowdy when he was excited or training but he was nowhere near as hyper as before.

He wasn't the only one to have changed however most of his classmates had grown up a bit, some more than others.

Looking to his left his eyes caught sight of arguably his closest friend

Hinata.

Hinata hadn't changed much personality wise, she still maintained her kind and gentle demeanor as she had in their youth even earning the nickname 'The Pale Saint' due to her eye color and patient disposition garnering the admiration of both teachers and students alike.

Of course, those who knew her personally were very much aware that when provoked the young heiress was actually downright terrifying, much more demon than a saint.

Hinata now stood at about four foot eight, just a little bit shorter than him and now wore a white kimono-like shirt decorated with the Hyuga clan symbol on her shoulders and light pink flower petals ran up and down the sleeves. For pants, she went with standard issue dark blue shinobi pants and blue sandals to finish off her outfit.

To his right was his second closest friend, Kira Inuzuka.

Kira hadn't changed all that much, she had managed to calm down a little bit but overall was the same rough and tumble kind of girl she had been as a child, she still loved to fight and was always down for a challenge often badgering the older students for fights as well.

Much to Iruka's annoyance, he might add.

Overall though she was also pretty fun to just hang out with as well and the two would wander around outside the village and just talk about whatever was going on in their lives.

Granted those talks usually ended up with them competing in some fashion but it was the intent that mattered.

Kira was still taller than him much to his annoyance and her unending satisfaction standing at a proud five foot two which she often like to lord over him, often resting herself against him in a display of what she called 'Alpha dominance'.

This of course often led to even more childish fights between them.

Kira, like himself, went for rather simple attire wearing a grey-furred hooded jacket with black pants and sandals. She wasn't big on clothing and since she often got dirty anyway she saw no reason to spend lots of time worrying about what she was wearing.

Next to her sat Shino.

The two weren't super close, the Aburame tendency to keep their distances from others was strong in him but they got along well enough and occasionally the two would have little chats about insects since he would sometimes spot interesting looking critters during his training and bring them to the boy's attention.

An odd friendship sure but they made it work just fine.

Shino hadn't changed much in appearance other than in height standing at the same height as himself at an even five foot tall. He had ditched his hooded coat a few years back and instead wore a high collard trench coat that hid the bottom of his face but reveals his hair and eyes.

Well, not his eyes so much as his glasses that he refused to take off no matter how much Naruto had begged.

One day he'll see under those shades...

Moving on and tilting his head back Naruto looked above him and caught sight of none other than Choji Akimichi.

Choji had changed quite a bit from his youth, having grown more confident in himself after their friend group had solidified and he realized they weren't going to mock his weight. He was still a gentle soul but he was more than capable of taking care of himself now, something that was well known throughout the Academy after he'd flattened a few older boys who had called him a fatty.

The F-word was now strictly forbidden in any conversation involving the boy.

The two of them got along well, he'd taken the boy to Ichiraku's shortly after they met and immediately the portly Akimichi had made the ramen stand a frequent stop when he went out to eat. The two of them would regularly have ramen eating contests with their current score being 15-14 in his favor.

Choji stood at a slightly average, four foot ten and was...well built so to speak. He wore a green, short-sleeved haori with a long, white scarf over a light-green shirt and he also wore black shorts and bandages around his legs and forearms.

Next to him sat their resident genius, Shikari Nara

Shikari like Kira hadn't changed much, probably because it would be too troublesome in her opinion to do so, she like most Nara clan members enjoyed spending her days doing as little as humanly possible and often tried to weasel out of their group hangouts to spend the day resting or cloud watching.

To the surprise of almost everyone the two actually got along very well despite being near complete opposites in regards to personality. Where he was talkative, hyper, and friendly, she was quiet, lazy, and could be rather rude when dealing with people.

To their credit, it had only been due to his knowledge of the Nara clans love of shogi that the girl had even given him a chance. He'd challenged her to a game after she blew off his previous attempts at friendship and the two had spent nearly an hour playing a single match before she'd finally beaten him. She'd been impressed and invited him to play again the following day, now the two played often sometimes betting small favors or snacks in little wager matches.

She also had a habit of teasing him similar to her library bound relative much to his horror and embarrassment.

Shikari stood at a little over four foot eight though she always complained that her ponytail should count to make her taller. She joined him and Kira in the simple clothes club wearing a short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves with her clan symbol on its back and a mesh undershirt with bandage wrapping underneath.

Turning his attention back to the front of the class he turned to face the twin fangirls of the Academy.

First up was Sakura, the pink haired Haruno had remained fairly consistent over the years, she had grown more confident but that may have mostly been because of her rivalry with the Yamanaka heiress.

Sakura measured out at four foot eight and was garbed in a red qipao dress with short sleeves and with slits along the sides and white circular designs towards the bottom under she wore a pair tight dark green bike shorts and blue sandals.

She wasn't awful, she was just loud and as Kira described her, was about as weak as a starving newborn pup. The girl was book smart but didn't apply herself much coasting by on high test scores rather than putting any real effort to train sadly.

Following her up with Ino Yamanaka,

Ino was slightly better, the two having briefly interacted since she was close with Shikari and Choji but they weren't really friends. The girl was a true gossip at heart and despite being only a little stronger than Sakura due to her clan techniques she was rather adept at getting ahold of information.

He'd chalked it up to clan talent since the Yamanaka clan specialized in information gathering.

Ino, similar to Shika and Sakura stood at an even four foot eight and wore a purple outfit consisting of a high-collared blouse and matching apron skirt along with bandages around her stomach and legs.

She was considered one of the prettiest girls in the academy something she took way too much pride in if you asked him.

Lastly, his gaze turned to a brooding figure sitting at the end of the bottom room gazing darkly out of a nearby window.

Satsuki Uchiha...

Of everyone in their class she had probably changed the most, not that he could fully blame her of course. It was hard to imagine someone not changing after having their entire family killed, by their own brother no less.

The Uchiha massacre had taken place late into their second year of the Academy and shook the village to its core. One of the founding members of the village being almost completely eradicated barring its sole survivor and the clan's executioner caused quite a stir in the village populus.

More importantly, it had deeply affected the raven-haired girl and not for the better.

Before the incident, the two had come to understand one another a bit better and while they would never admit it, both of them had too much pride to do so, they had come to view the other as friends and not just rivals. Satsuki was never the most open person to begin with, generally only letting her guard down when they were alone training did she seem to relax.

Now though she was closed off, distant to everyone including him. She would still spar with him but their bouts held a ferocity that wasn't there previously, she took her losses harder and harshly declined his invitations to join their little group.

Satsuki stood just a few inches shorter than him at four foot nine and wore a plain navy blue shirt with the Uchiha fan crest on the back on her arms were a pair of white armbands that ran the length of her forearms, she wore a pair of white shorts and standard blue sandals

They weren't really on speaking terms nowadays but he held out some small hope that maybe she'd come around one day since she didn't cut him out completely like she had her other acquaintances.

That was a small positive at least, right?

He was broken out of his thoughts by the now familiar sensation of someone lightly brushing their hand against his whisker marks, seems like he had spaced out again as Iruka was no longer talking and was instead making his way out of the classroom.

"You know you could just tap my shoulder Hina-chan." He pointed out, he was not a cat damn it he was almost a full-fledged ninja, you don't pet ninja.

"But then I wouldn't get the chance to hear that little purr you do." She replied a teasing smile on her face as she started packing away her supplies ignoring his flushed face.

"Oi! I don't purr that's slander!" He barked out, there was no way he purred he was a man and men don't purr!

"You totally do purr blondie." Shikari's sleepy voice pointed out an amused grin situated on her face at his look of sheer betrayal.

That's what you get for being so troublesome.

"You guys suck." He huffed, "I swear I'm gonna go buy a face mask then we'll see who purrs!"

Kira gave him a light push barking with laughter "It'll still be you, whiskers."

Hinata offered him a gentle pat on the shoulder, her lithe form shaking as she tried to suppress her own laughter.

"Ah, I'm sorry Naruto-kun, if it makes you feel better I think its rather cute." she said while hiding her mouth behind her sleeve.

He gave them all a deadpan stare before packing his things doing his best to ignore their laughter as he grumbled to himself about a lack of respect.

"Hey, Whiskers are you planning on hitting the training grounds today?" Kira asked as she stood up, grabbing her faithful puppy companion and placing him in her hood.

"Nah not today, think I'll just rest up and do some light review for the exam, don't wanna go overboard and risk pulling a muscle or something, why?" He answered shaking his head.

"Damn, I was gonna ask you to spar with me again, nothing like a good fight to calm my nerves before the big day." The feral girl said, shoulders slumping at his answer.

"You should probably actually study Kira, you are aware there is a written portion to the exam and we all know you have the lowest test scores in our group." He replied giving her a knowing look as she rubbed the back of her head with a slight blush.

"S-Shut up!" She roared, "It's not my fault its all so damn boring, besides the physical tests should matter more anyway, what good does being super smart do if you go down with one punch?"

"Was that a jab at me?" Shikari asked, narrowing her eyes at the Inuzuka.

"Maybe." The feral girl answered with absolutely no shame in her voice as she stared defiantly back at the irritated Nara.

Naruto rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed as the two began to bicker back and forth if there was one thing Kira excelled at it was starting random fights. Hopefully, this didn't get out of hand...

_**"Kagemane no Jutsu!"**_

_Why Kami, why?!_

* * *

After barely managing to stop Shikari from murdering Kira the group had gone their separate ways, either heading home or out into the village to waste time until it got late.

He had decided to skip training and just relax, he had made some stops along the way grabbing a bite to eat at Ichirakus before wandering aimlessly around the village.

Now he stood on top of the Hokage Monument, a rocky mountain that towered above the village and carved in stone on the side were the faces of all past and present Hokages.

The Shodai Hokage, and one of the founders of Konoha, Hashirama Senju was known as one of the most powerful shinobi to walk the nations his mere presence could force weaker ninja to flee in terror. Despite his reputation, he was also known to be a kind man who dreamed of creating a more peaceful world.

The Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju was the younger brother to the Hashirama but no less infamous than his older sibling. The man had a mastery of water style jutsu that put Kiri shinobi to shame, it was rumored that shinobi from Kiri sought him out on the battlefield for that reason. He was a stricter man than his brother but was brilliant both off and on the battlefield.

The Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen was the current and acting Kage having retaken the position after the Kyuubi incident and the untimely death of his successor. Like the Nidaime before him, the third was well known for his intelligence, earning the title 'Professor' for his knowledge as well as mastery and understanding of almost all ninja arts. It was actually not commonly known that in his prime he was actually considered the strongest Hokage beating out both the first and second.

The last and most recent was none other than the Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

The Fourth was almost deified within the village and not without good reason either, the man had almost singlehandedly ended the Third Great Shinobi War and managed to defeat the Kyuubi on his own. He was also the youngest person to be appointed Hokage which spoke volumes of his skill and ability.

Sitting upon the stone heads of the village's greatest heroes he couldn't help but feel so small in comparison and it wasn't just the obvious size difference between him and the massive stone faces either.

Each of these men had shaped the face of the elemental nations in some way and yet here he was claiming that one day he'd be stronger than even them, shinobi who were without questions the greatest of their time.

If he was honest with himself when he read through all their achievements, their trials, and their victories he couldn't help but feel...

Inadequate.

He wasn't a prodigy, he didn't have any special bloodlines, he didn't come from a well-respected or powerful clan he was just another face in a crowd but yet he dared to stand in front of them and proclaim that he would surpass them.

There was a fine line between confidence and arrogance and sometimes he wasn't sure where he fell on that line.

He looked out from his seat upon the Fourth's head and saw the lights of the village, a beacon in the night as the shopkeepers began to close their stores and the remaining children ran home with stories of their daily adventures.

He allowed a soft smile to grace his face as he watched the village from above, the people may have been jerks that much he wouldn't deny but, all the same, he still truly loved his home no matter its faults there was nothing quite like it.

He wondered if that's what drove them, the desire to protect their home to defend whatever the village had meant to them.

"I swear I'll surpass all of you, and I promise that I'll keep them safe." He whispered to the stone carvings.

Naruto swiftly got up and dusted off his pants, he really should get home before it got too late he had a test tomorrow after all.

He gave one last look out towards the orange glow of the village lights before making his way down, his resolve strengthened.

* * *

Hiruzen sat tiredly in his chair as he poured over piles of seemingly endless paperwork. Various mission briefings, fund requests, trade disputes, and treaties littered his workspace all demanding his attention. He often considered why he'd accepted the kage position in the first place...

Then again declining the final wish of his Sensei would have been dishonorable to the man and insult to the faith he had placed in him but he could do with just a little less paperwork.

He leaned back in his chair taking a brief moment for himself allowing his aching hands to rest and turned his chair outward towards the village, he lamented that in his youth he never truly took the time to admire his home he was always running about either training with Tobirama or out on missions that he rarely got to just look at the village and take it all in.

That had changed after his appointment and he had quickly discovered why the Hokage Tower was built to overlook the village.

It was a reminder of what he and every shinobi and kunoichi fought to protect, what they risked their health, their sanity, and their lives every day to keep safe. It was humbling and terrifying even now to think every choice he made could either maintain their fragile peace or plunge them all back into the fires of war.

Hiruzen was a man of peace but he knew he had more blood on his hands then every ninja in his command, the village was his family and every day he sent his family to die far from home in the name of protecting it.

Few truly understood just what it really meant to be a kage, to be a kage was to sacrifice all of oneself in service to their home at any cost.

And there was always a cost.

He turned to his left and grabbed another file, the academy records detailing the upcoming list of potential ninja candidates. He scanned through them making mental notes on interesting or unique profiles before stopping on an image of a familiar blond.

_Naruto Uzumaki..._

His heart ached at the sight of the boy, Kami how long had it been since he'd last seen him? He wouldn't be surprised if the lad hardly remembered him after all this time.

He felt shame at his lack of involvement in the boy's life, he just never seem to have the time for him, the Kyuubi attack had almost decimated the village, they had lost their kage the man who had single-handedly crippled Iwa and forced Kumo to surrender. The recent Uchiha massacre had only further weakened the village and it took all he had to maintain an image of strength to prevent their rivals from trying to capitalize on their weakness.

He hated to say it but there were more pressing matters than one orphaned child, even if that child was the hidden son of one of their greatest heroes.

The problem was that it wasn't just he who had left the boy, Hirzuen was not ignorant of the general populous's distaste for the lad, his decree that none shall speak of the boy's status as the container was probably all that held them from shouting it from the rooftops.

As much as he wished otherwise he couldn't change how the village felt, for all his skill and power it was beyond him to control their thoughts and so the boy suffered not physically but the aged man had no doubts the boy carried mental scars, wounds harder to heal than any cut or gash.

Once again he sighed for what felt like the hundredth time and returned the file, tomorrow a fresh crop of genin would make their way out into the cruel world he could only hope they proved strong enough to survive the oncoming challenges.

Naruto sat anxiously in his seat as he watched his fellow students get called one by one into the examination room and returning minutes later either proudly displaying their newly acquired headbands or heads shamefully hung signaling a less than stellar outcome.

Already Shino, Choji, Sakura, Hinata, Kira, and Shikari had been called up, each returned with their headbands wrapped somewhere on their bodies.

Shino, Kira, and Choji had gone for the traditional headband style, though Choji had added his own unique touch turning his into a sort of cap with two openings for his hair at the top.

Hinata decided to wear hers around her neck, Shikari preferred to wrap it around her arm, and Sakura wore her's like a hairband.

"Satsuki Uchiha!"

He watched as the brooding girl made her way into the examination room, completely ignoring her cheering fans wishing her luck.

"Eh, Naruto you shouldn't stress yourself so much, you'll ruin your appetite," Choji said to his friend as he watched the blond tap nervously on his desk.

"Yeah Whiskers, you're like the top student here tied with little miss emo what do you have to worry about?" Kira added shaking her head at the boy's behavior.

"I can't help it I'm just nervous, I don't want all my work to be for nothing you know?" He replied his gaze locked onto the exam room door.

"Troublesome blond, as if you could actually fail with your insane training." Shakari scoffed as she leaned back into her chair "Now quit your twitching I can't sleep with you shaking the table."

Naruto was going to respond but was cut off by the sound of his name being called.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Good luck Naruto-kun!" Hinata gave him a soft cheer as she watched him make his way towards the exam room the rest of his friends following suit offering words or gestures of encouragement.

He acknowledged them with a nod before stepping into the room and taking his place at the center.

Across from him sat Iruka and a mysterious white-haired chunin he'd never seen before though he didn't like the look in the man's eyes, it reminded him of the villagers which set him slightly on edge.

Iruka noticing the boy's gaze quickly introduced the stranger.

"Ah, Naruto this is my assistant Mizuki." He said gesturing towards the now revealed Mizuki, "He normally teaches the younger students but since they have the day off he asked to watch your group."

"I see, hello Mizuki-sensei pleased to meet you." He said giving a small bow, he might not like the man but he would be polite for now seeing as it wouldn't help him to rude at the moment.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well Naruto-kun, best of luck with your test." The man replied returning the bow though Naruto did catch the slight twitch in lips as he said his name.

He didn't like this man at all.

Turning his attention back to Iruka he awaited his instructions.

"You've done well in all the previous tests you scored almost perfectly on the written exam and your skill in taijutsu is impressive as always. For your last test, you'll need to demonstrate proficiency in the three basic Academy techniques the transformation, replacement, and clone techniques.

Naruto frowned slightly at the mention of the clone technique he had always struggled to pull that one off due to his large reserves but he had a workaround he just hopped it didn't disqualify him.

Running through hand signs he gathered his chakra and envisioning the Third Hokage called out his technique.

_**"Henge no Jutsu!" **_

A cloud of smoke enveloped him before quickly dispersing leaving in his place a replica of the aged Hokage, pipe and all standing before his instructor.

"Very good, and I see you were paying attention when I mentioned the Third enjoys smoking it seems you don't sleep through all my lessons" The scared man joked.

In another cloud of smoke, the whiskered blond reappeared dropping the technique while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Next, the replacement technique if you would." Iruka prompted him to the tool to his left, "please switch places with the stool."

Naruto nodded and once again ran through the proper seals before calling out the second jutsu.

_**"Kawarimi no Jutsu!"**_

Naruto felt a familiar tugging sensation of the technique as his body swapped places with the stool before casting it once again and swapping back.

"Perfect, now just perform the clone technique and summon at least three clones and you'll pass." Iruka said.

Naruto took a deep breath and performed the hand signs and called out the last jutsu.

_**"Bunshin no Jutsu!"**_

Immediately smoke filled the room as ten copies of the blond crowded the examination room each one offering a sheepish grin at the deadpan look on their sensei's face.

"Were ten clones necessary Naruto?" the scar-faced man questioned waving the remaining smoke out of his face.

"Sorry Sensei, I have too much chakra to make less than that but I promise I'm still working on my chakra control!" He explained and it was true he practiced daily, it was the only reason he could make them at all!

"Well, there are no rules about overachieving so congratulations Naruto it is my honor to present you with you official Konoha forehead protector." Iruka smiled at his student and handed him a standard blue headband, "May you wear it with pride!"

Naruto accepted the item with a large grin and bowed to his sensei in thanks.

"Congratulations Naruto-kun, I wish you luck in your shinobi career." Mizuki added offering a kind smile to the whiskered boy

Naruto offered the man a small thank you and a smaller bow before making his way out of the testing room while wrapping the symbol of his village around his left arm.

* * *

Iruka had gone on to give them a small speech saying how proud he was of them and how he looked forward to hearing of their future achievements as adults and fellow ninja of Konoha.

It was a pretty heartfelt moment and he had to admit he would miss the Academy a little bit but he was more excited to finally begin his life as a fully fledged shinobi.

Iruka also told them to meet back there tomorrow for team assignments where they would learn who they would be forming squads with and meeting their assigned jounin instructors.

He idly wondered who he would be paired up with he hoped he got at least one of his friends that would be nice.

"Naruto-kun!" A voice called out to him interrupting his thoughts and causing him to turn around to see who was calling him.

"Mizuki-sensei? What did you need?" He asked watching the white-haired chunin make his way up to him.

"I wanted to talk with you again and praise your performance, you did well and you chakra reserves are very impressive for your age." The man praised offering him a smile.

"Ah, thank you sensei Iruka-sensei is a good teacher and I like the extra energy but it's really hard to control I'm just happy he allowed me to pass." He replied politely though he wondered what exactly the man wanted.

"He really is, he cares a lot about his students I don't think anyone puts quite as much effort into teaching as he does." Mizuki chuckled.

"Was that all sensei? I have some preparations for tomorrow I need to make if that's all you wanted." Naruto wanted very little to do with the man, he understood that in the exam room Mizuki had to put up with him so why would he go the extra mile to seek him out just to wish him well?

Mizuki offered a kind smile "Well you see Naruto-kun I wanted to offer you an opportunity I thought you might be interested in."

"An opportunity? What kind exactly?" He asked his eyes narrowing at the instructor.

Mizuki quickly put his hands up seeing the suspicious look the boy was sending him and moved to explain.

"Ah you see Naruto-kun I had a second reason for being present for your classes test. While my job was to just observe I also had a second assignment from the Hokage." He explained catching the blond's attention.

"You see I was supposed to look out for talented graduates who are further ahead than their classmates and offer them a test. If they pass they are put on a fast track through the shinobi ranks to bring out the best the village has to offer." Mizuki explained.

"And I assume you wish to offer me this test?" The blond questioned

Mizuki nodded "I think you have what it takes, so what do you say will you at least hear me out?" he asked.

Naruto weighed the pros and cons of hearing the man out, it sounded plausible if somewhat convenient. What would be the harm of at least listening to what the man had to say?

"Alright, Mizuki-sensei what exactly is the test?" He asked.

Mizuki offered the boy a wide smile

"I need you to retrieve a certain scroll for me..." He began as he launched into an explanation of his little 'test'.

All according to plan.

* * *

**AN. Chapter fix**

(I fixed the issues with Satsuki's height, I had planned to make her taller but changed it on reflection but forgot to adjust the line for it so that's fixed and I was going to address it in the next chapter but since it really seems to stand out to people I figured it was better to just go back in and edit this chapter. I just wanted to do height for this one chapter to give people an idea of how and what these characters look like this not going to be common or anything)

**This was a bit longer than usual though people still tell me the chapters are short lol. I like writing but I can only write so much at a time people! That isn't to say I'm not happy at the criticism, it tells me people want more to read them more often which is always nice.**

**I did a lot this chapter so I'm sorry if things seem less focused I just want to get into the real meat of the story so I tried to cram a lot of time into one chapter.**

**I hope you all enjoyed and are looking forward to the next update, please leave me your thoughts and I'll see you all next time!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything with that said please enjoy the story!**

**Early chapter, I got my laptop back faster than I had anticipated so I got to work to bring this to you asap! I hope you like it and are looking forward to more regular chapters again also I have been out of practice and I am sick so hopefully, everything is on the up and up but if not let me know and I'll go back and try fixing them.**

**Enjoy!**

Naruto ran quickly through the surrounding forest of the village, using the shadows of the towering treetops as a cover he moved quietly under the light of the hanging full moon towards his destination.

Upon his back rested a large furled up scroll secured tightly to his body with the kanji for 'Forbidden' printed along its side.

He sighed in relief as he reached a small open clearing, taking a brief moment to scan the tree line for any movement or hidden figures before he cautiously entered the clearing and set the large scroll down against one of the surrounding trees.

Setting himself down next to the scroll he took a moment to recount why he was running around with one of the villages most guarded relics like some kind of common criminal.

_***Flashback start***_

"_A scroll?" He questioned, his brow scrunched in confusion at the man's request. He supposed it made some sense but of all the items it could have been he hadn't expected it to be something so mundane._

_Mizuki nodded, his eyes darting around for any hidden onlookers before he explained further_

"_Like I said this test is only given to advanced students." Mizuki began, "For your test, you will be infiltrating the Hokage Tower and retrieving a large, hidden scroll located within the Hokage's office before bringing it to an assigned location where your performance will be graded."_

_Naruto frowned as he listened to Mizuki explain his objective, "You think I'll be able to sneak into one of the most heavily guarded buildings in the village and escape unnoticed?" He questioned his eyes narrowed at the seemingly suicidal task._

_This did not sound like an easy task even for the most experienced shinobi, the Hokage tower was one of if not the most well-guarded buildings in the village and was filled to the brim with Anbu._

_That didn't even include the presence of the Hokage himself who would be more than capable of taking on any singular intruder._

_Mizuki shook his head "Of course not, I wouldn't send you in completely blind." He reached into his shuriken pouch and pulled out a small scroll._

"_Inside this scroll is a detailed layout of guard patrols and shift change times, this will give you a fighting chance if you play it smart, from your test scores I don't think you'll find it too much of a challenge to get in and out if you don't mess up." He explained handing over the scroll._

_Naruto glanced over it and Mizuki wasn't lying, the guard patrols were very clearly marked as well as multiple entrances and exit points. It also detailed how to get to the drop-off point at the outskirts of the village._

"_This will act as an official mission if you are seen you will be captured, of course, once the test is over you will be released and will be able to return in time for graduation but you'll only get one chance at this." Mizuki said with a reassuring tone but there was a hint of anticipation in his voice._

"_So now onto the big question, are you willing to go beyond your peers or is this too much for you?" He questioned turning serious for the first time since their conversation started._

_Naruto looked down at the scroll in his hand and up at the white-haired instructor contemplating all the information before finally making his decision._

_"I'll do it." He answered._

_***Flashback end***_

Naruto shook his head, now wasn't the time to be spacing out he needed to keep his focus or all his work would be for nothing. He was a bit early Mizuki wouldn't arrive for at least another half hour based on the plans.

Naruto sighed as he looked at the scroll laying beside him, part of him wondered what was actually written inside. After all it wouldn't be hidden away in arguably the safest place in the village and not have some importance.

It wouldn't be professional of him to open it.

Yep, just going to leave it right there.

The big scroll with who knows what locked away inside totally begging to be read...

_***Half an hour later***_

Naruto's body tensed as the sound of someone walking through the forest reached his ears, he quickly secured the scroll to his back and rolled into a nearby bush and waited for whoever it was to reveal themselves.

He didn't have to wait long as a familiar snowy white hair man stepped carefully into the clearing instantly giving away the man's identity. Mizuki had arrived right on time and appeared to be searching for something as his eyes wandered over the moonlit opening.

Naruto let out a small breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding before making his way out of the bush and calling out to him.

"Mizuki-sensei, you made it I was worried someone else might have found me first." He said rubbing the back of his head and offering the man a sheepish grin.

Mizuki turned to face him and offered his own grin, though it lacked the gentleness that had previously accompanied it replaced with barely restrained malice.

"You've got the whole village searching for you, it seems someone must have noticed the scroll was missing and sounded the alarm, lucky for you that you have the scroll and weren't caught" Mizuki extend his arms towards the boy, "Now hand it over to me and you'll be on your way to becoming a chunin in no time."

Naruto, however, made no move to hand the scroll over instead he tightened the strap that kept it secured to his back as he narrowed his gaze on the white-haired shinobi.

"No, I don't think I will Sensei." He answered coldly watching as Mizuki's grin quickly morphed into a scowl.

"This is not the time for games Naruto, hand the scroll over now!" He demanded harshly, taking a step forward towards the boy.

Naruto remained unphased and took a single step back never breaking eye contact.

"You don't think I couldn't see how shady this was from the beginning? A random chunin having a detailed floor plan of the Hokage Tower and its guard patrols, being the overseer of a secret test no one else could know about that involved stealing from the leader of the village and making their way out in the direction of the border of Fire Country." Naruto's glare remained fixed on Mizuki as he spoke.

"I may not always be the brightest but this screams treason Mizuki and you aren't getting your hands on this scroll if I have anything to say about it." He finished.

Mizuki sneered at the blond "Do you feel clever brat? What, do you want a cookie for figuring it out? It doesn't change the fact that you've still brought the scroll here and you are the only thing standing in my way."

Mizuki reached behind his back and pulled out a large shuriken "I was going to allow the village to deal with you and finally put down the fox brat but I am more than happy to kill you myself, you little monster!"

Naruto frowned slightly at the man's threat, more so at the title of fox brat that had plagued the whispers he'd heard adults mumble when in his presence, but he brushed it off for now.

He had a traitor to deal with.

Falling into his stance Naruto stared ahead calmly, his normally warm blue eyes almost frosting over as he stared down his enemy.

"If you think you can you are welcome to try but you aren't on my level." He replied not with arrogance but pure confidence.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you!" Mizuki roared and launched the shuriken in his hand towards the blond, smiling cruelly as the bladed weapon tore through the air towards its target.

Naruto waited until it was right in front of him before narrowly dodging to the side, allowing it whiz harmlessly by before launching himself forward towards Mizuki, two kunai in hand.

Mizuki growled and rushed to meet him in the center of the clearing, drawing his own kunai.

_***Clang!***_

The two met in the middle, blades crossed and sparked as the two struggled to overpower one another. Mizuki had the size advantage and the natural strength that came with it over the boy, but Naruto was no slouch with his constant physical training allowing him to match the older ninja in a deadlock.

Naruto grit his teeth in annoyance as they locked up he knew full well he couldn't stay in a stalemate with Mizuki forever, his training was the only reason the man hadn't already overpowered him. He quickly lessened his force taking Mizuki off guard at the sudden slack and forcing him to overcommit to a downward stab.

Naruto quickly pivoted to the left and used the moment to spin himself around launching a harsh kick into the man's side that sent him sliding along the grass with a grunt of pain.

Mizuki growled and quickly recovered and went to reach for the second giant shuriken he had packed but was interrupted by a sharp pain in his shoulder, he glanced down to find a kunai embedded in his flak jacket, the dull green fabric surrounding the object grew faintly red as his blood leaked into it.

_This fucking brat was dead!_

Ripping the kunai out with a wince he threw it back towards the blond who gave him a smirk as he effortlessly caught the offending item.

"What's wrong Mizuki, I thought you were going to show me the might of a chunin?" Naruto taunted, "If that's all you have, maybe I should be promoted after this, I can't be any worse than you are."

"DON'T YOU MOCK ME YOU FREAK!" Mizuki roared in anger and humiliation.

_He was not about to be beaten by some fresh out the Academy genin, least of all the damn Kyuubi kid!_

Ignoring the pain in his shoulder Mizuki brought out his second shuriken and hurled it towards the blond, this time though he sprinted behind it intending to catch the blond then he moved to dodge.

Naruto watched the steel star careen towards him and ducked allowing it to fly overhead before breaking back into motion as Mizuki reached him.

He quickly blocked an upwards knee aimed at his face with his palm and used the force like a springboard to vault over Mizuki, twisting his body in midair Naruto drove the kunai Mizuki had tossed at him into the man's other shoulder, earning a pained scream from the silver-haired chunin before planting both his feet on the man back and launching him forward.

Mizuki crashed face first into the ground, the dirt and grass were quickly painted red as he bled from his nose and lip. He rolled over slowly with a groan of pain and glared hatefully into the calm face of the whiskered blond.

"Give up Mizuki this is pointless you've already lost, at least if you cooperate you won't make your punishment any worse." Naruto spoke offering the man a chance to back down and surrender.

Mizuki slowly rose up, madness in his eyes Naruto could only see pure anger in the man's gaze as he tried to regain his balance and grabbed at his wounds.

"Don't you dare lecture me like you are my better! You are nothing but a monster in human skin pretending like you don't know what you really are!" Mizuki screamed.

"You should have been killed the moment they found you but they let you live, they let the beast that killed the Fourth and destroyed our home live!" Mizuki was raving by this point, blood spilled freely from his wounds and Naruto couldn't help but flinch at the raw acidity of his tone coupled with his broken image, "Do you want to know why we hate you? Why everyone in this village secretly wants you to disappear?!" Mizuki offered with a cruel bloodstained grin as he watched the calm look the blond had sported morph into one of surprise, then anxiety and slight fear.

"All the stories say the Fourth Hokage gave his life to kill the Nine-Tails but that isn't the truth, not even close. A tailed beast can't be killed but they can be weakened and locked away..." Mizuki shakily raised his hand and pointed at him.

"The Hokage gave his life to seal the Fox away into a human shell, ripping its power and immortal form away and leaving it vulnerable, weak. You think you're so fucking smart Uzumaki, then I'm sure you can figure out the rest!"

Naruto's body shook as all the pieces started to fall into place, his birthday coincided with the attack, the barely hidden whispers of "Fox child" and "Monster" that followed him everywhere, even his face carried the marks of a beast.

"Y-You're lying! I am Naruto Uzumaki of the Hidden Leaf I'm not a monster!" He cried out, his previous composure broken as flashes of his childhood flickered through his mind the years of neglect, abandonment, fear, and hate all hit him at once.

"You...you Naruto Uzumaki are nothing more than the Nine-Tailed Fo-" Mizuki never got to finish his sentence, his body slumped and unceremoniously collapsed hitting the floor with a dull thump. Behind him stood a cloaked Anbu member with a bird mask, his arm held in a chopping motion indicating he'd knocked the man out.

"Forgive our tardiness Uzumaki-san, you did well to hold him off for as long as you did." A monotone voice projected itself from the masked nin, behind him two more cloaked figures emerged a taller figure with a bear mask and a clearly more feminine figure with a cat mask.

The one with a bear mask quickly picked up Mizuki's unconscious body and flung him over his shoulder, he offered a quick nod in the boys direction before flickering out of sight in an instant followed swiftly by the bird masked Anbu member.

The one with a cat mask approached him and placed a hand on his shoulder breaking him out of his daze as she gave him a light squeeze to catch his attention.

"The Hokage would like to speak with you, I will escort you to him. Are you prepared?"

Naruto didn't trust himself to speak at the moment and merely nodded and with that, the two were gone in a flicker of leaves.

* * *

_***Hokage's Office***_

"Thank you Cat for bringing young Naruto-kun here, you are dismissed I expect your team's report on my desk first thing tomorrow morning." The Third spoke taking a small puff from his pipe.

Cat silently nodded and quietly exited the office leaving the aged kage and young boy alone to speak.

Turning to face the Whiskered child Hiruzen couldn't help but feel his age at the turmoil he found within those azure orbs. The boy was like his mother in that regard he noted a small twinge of guilt quietly reminding himself that the boy didn't even have the luxury of knowing his mother's name.

He could only hope Kami would forgive him when his time came.

"I wish to congratulate you on a mission well done, Naruto-kun. You did very well in apprehending a traitor who wished to steal village secrets, held your own in combat with a much more experienced opponent, and returned in near perfect condition." He praised,

"You took on a lot of risks both to your career and your health with such an impromptu mission but you work paid off and Mizuki will be interrogated to see what he knows. Though I do wish you had come to me directly as opposed to leaving me a simple note with instructions to just trust you."

He meant that sincerely, this would have been classified as at least an A-rank mission in almost any village and for a newly minted genin to pull it off without any physical wounds was practically unheard of.

However, Hiruzen knew that not all wounds were physical and while the boy may have walked out without a scratch physically, mentally the boy had taken a major hit.

"I do, however, wish to speak with you about some information you uncovered while on this mission, something I'm sure you have your own questions about." He spoke slowly.

"About me being the Kyuubi I assume?" The blond answered despondently taking in the older man before him, "Or why I was never told what I am?"

Hiruzen shook his head sadly, "Mizuki spoke with no understanding, a mixture of truth and hate-filled conjecture. You are not the Kyuubi that much I can confidently assure you of, however, the beast is indeed sealed inside of you. Understand this Naruto-kun you are the prison, not the prisoner." The Third explained and gave a gentle smile as he saw a small sliver of hope return in the boy's expression.

Naruto felt some relief at that bit of knowledge, it wasn't amazing to know he held within him the beast that had attacked his home but he felt a bit better knowing that the lives lost during the attack were not a result of his actions.

It also put his childhood and status in perspective, why the villagers went out of their way to avoid him, why parents told their kids to stay away from him, why he was sometimes charged more for basic quality items, and the list went on and on.

The village didn't hate him.

They hated what he represented, a constant reminder of what they lost that day be it, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, friends, lovers all lost forever in the blink of an eye to an uncaring and unstoppable force.

Yet the demon lived, given human form it lived on mocking them, never allowing them to move on with their lives due to his presence.

It was sad in a pitiful kind of way.

He could vaguely understand their pain but at the same time, he couldn't fully comprehend it either. Not when he had no one close to him on such a personal level, he had never truly felt loss because he never had anything to lose to begin with.

He was born without parents and up until recently he had no friends but they were all alive and well, he had yet to truly lose someone precious to him. He could imagine how hate could grow to ease the pain of loss, a distraction from grief.

He was just the unfortunate casualty in the whole situation.

But did that make their actions right though? Did he not suffer as well? Was his duty to make the village feel better by becoming the scapegoat to their fears, their grief, and their superstitions?!

For a moment Naruto felt anger, dare he say even genuine hatred for the inhabitants of the village, why did he have to suffer on their behalf? What had any of them done for him that justified sacrificing his very body for their sake?!

But as the anger took hold so to did understanding. What good did being angry accomplish? If he lashed out he'd only become part of the same cycle that he had suffered under his whole life and at the end who won from that?

He was still pissed, the damage from years of neglect and abuse wouldn't disappear overnight but he would have time to sort out his feelings later in private right now he needed to know more.

Naruto gave a deep breath and quietly asked two questions.

"Why was I never told and why did he choose me?"

The Third let out a puff of smoke from his pipe before replying.

"You were never told because I passed a law forbidding anyone to speak of your status as the container in the hopes of giving you the chance for a regular childhood." He answered.

Naruto snorted at the idea of a normal childhood too emotionally drained to care about whether or not that was proper to do in front of his village leader.

Hiruzen shook his head sadly at the response "I am truly sorry my boy, I can only imagine how awful things have been for you. Even as their leader I can not control their thoughts and opinions I could only hope that perhaps the younger generation might connect with you if they got the chance to see beyond your burden."

"I do not blame you, free will is both a blessing and a curse. You did what you could Ojichan-eh I mean Hokage-sama!" Naruto hurriedly corrected himself.

Hiruzen laughed loudly at the slip-up, the boy had not called him that in years! Granted that was his own fault not having the time for the child but it warmed his heart to hear again.

"I do not mind if you call me Ojichan, Naruto-kun it is refreshing to be referred to so informally sometimes it feels as though people forget I am a person, not just a Kage." He chuckled getting a small smile out of the boy before returning to his serious tone to address the second question.

"As for your second question, unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that..." He replied softly, heart clenching at the frustrated look that settled upon the boy's face.

He hated to lie to him but he wasn't ready not yet at least, it wasn't the proper time.

He could, however, give the boy some encouragement.

"I can only guess that he saw something in you, perhaps a strong will or inner strength that made him think you were the best option. The Fourth was not one to do things thoughtlessly you must have stood out to him even as a baby." He offered a helpful suggestion.

Naruto merely nodded but his face was still set in a large frown as he was ultimately left with just more questions.

Like always...

"You are dismissed for the night, in light of this incident I have pushed the team assignments back a week so do take the time to recover and prepare for your team assignments. I see a bright future for you Naruto-kun." The Third said.

Naruto stood up and bowed before making his way to the door but before he could open it the Third spoke once more.

"Also I do hope you'll use whatever you learned from the Forbidden Scroll responsibly, it's forbidden for a reason after all." Naruto swore he could hear thinly veiled mirth in the old man's voice.

Not bothering to turn around and ask how he knew, Naruto gave a slight nod and exited the office, taking care not to bump into the heavily bandaged man waiting outside on his way out.

* * *

Naruto immediately made his way home the events of the past few hours hitting him all at once left even his seemingly boundless energy reserves on empty as he trudged through the dimly lit streets of the village. His mind too preoccupied to even register the occasional glare from what few night owls remained on the streets.

He eventually made it home and swiftly crashed onto his bed, not even bothering to remove his clothes he just wanted the peace of sleep, he didn't want to deal with all the questions running amok in his head right now.

Taking comfort in the familiar scent of his sheets and relative safety of his home he soon found himself happily embracing the encroaching darkness and drifted off.

Peace at last...

_**Drip...drip...drip...**_

The sound of the sound of dripping water immediately set Naruto on edge, make no mistake he was no stranger to a leaky faucet that wasn't the issue.

No, the problem was he could feel that he was partially submerged in some form of liquid and last he checked his bedroom didn't have a tub inside of it!

Sitting up slowly Naruto blearily took in his surroundings and to his surprise found himself in what looked like a dimly lit sewer, dull grey pipes ran along the walls and ceiling running endlessly through the various hallways and corridors before disappearing off into the darkness.

Looking down he found the entire floor was slightly flooded causing him to hastily stand up not wanting to get soaked but to his shock, he was completely dry as though the water was simply rolling off him. Dipping his hand gently into the water he clearly felt a wet sensation but pulling it back out he reaffirmed he was in fact dry.

"Where am I?..." Naruto questioned, and more importantly why the hell did this place feel slightly familiar to him?

Deciding that sitting around wouldn't answer any of his questions he began to explore the dimly lit halls his hand running gently over the walls and pipes, idly noting that the pipes emitted a subtle warmth some more so than others.

He didn't know how long he had walked for simply picking a pipe and following it but he noticed that all the pipes seemed to be converging in one direction, he assumed that was either the origin point or the exit and so he picked up his pace the sound of his footsteps echoing through the empty halls.

Abruptly the trail of pipes stopped, no longer running along the walls but curving inward embedding themselves into the panels and disappearing from sight in front of a shadowed hallway.

Something about that hallway set his hairs on end, as though if he stepped into the shaded corridor he would be crossing some kind of threshold from which there would be no return. His mind whispered at him to turn around and find another path, some other way but he had to know why he was brought here.

Taking a deep breath he steeled himself and stepped into the shadows, the light of the sewer halls fading behind him as he wadded out into the darkness, keeping one hand on a nearby wall to guide himself he began his trek.

The darkness seemed endless ever expanding and all-consuming, he wondered if perhaps he'd made a mistake and debated turning back around but before he could decide he saw a faint red glow in the distance offering a small bit of illumination in the pitch blackness. Confidence returned he sprinted towards the light and grew anxious as the glow increased bathing him in crimson light.

Abruptly the light faded leaving Naruto once more in darkness immediately causing him to panic, he had let go of the wall in search of the light and feeling around he couldn't find anything to indicate where he was!

Before his panic could overwhelm him the room was suddenly illuminated, the unexpected flash of light forced his eyes shut as his retina's burned from the shift in lighting.

Naruto rubbed his eyes attempting to sooth them, blinking a few times he looked around to see just where on earth he'd found himself.

Naruto found himself standing in the center of a wide room, bathed in a soft orange glow from hanging wall lights and the ever present flooded flooring indicated that he was still within the apparent sewer system.

What really caught his attention however was the utterly massive gate that stood before him, it dwarfed even the tallest buildings in the village! In the middle hanging off what looked like a lock was a simple paper tag with the kanji for 'Seal' written on it.

"What the hell..." Naruto could only gasp in awe at the pure size of it.

That awe swiftly turned to fear when Naruto noticed something faintly moving behind the gate.

Something really, really big!

Naruto could see the water on the floor ripple violently as whatever was behind that gate shifted, the ground shaking as the mass twisted and turned, churning the water with the mear force of its movements.

After what felt like an eternity but what was only a few seconds the shaking stopped, the ripples slowed and he could no longer detect movement inside the cage.

_What the hell was inside there?!_

"H-Hello!" Naruto wasn't sure if calling out to whatever was in there was a smart idea but he had nothing else to work with, what other choice did he have?

For a moment nothing happened and he wondered if perhaps it hadn't heard him but before he could call out again the presence made itself known.

Naruto's body froze as he found himself staring into a large pair of rich crimson eyes burning with so much hate and rage that he felt himself beginning to choke on the raw fury emanating from within those eyes.

Visions of death and pain assaulted him, the smell of sulfur clawed at his lungs ripping at him from the inside but he couldn't look away. His blood boiled and his mind screamed in fear demanding he do something, anything to get away from whatever this creature was!

Naruto gasped as a pressure settled itself upon him driving him into the ground his chest heaving as he struggled to breathe, he could do nothing but whimper in pain as the edges of his vision began to grow black and his sight was filled with stars as the tendrils of shadows seeked to pull him under. The sound of his heartbeat pounded in his ears like drum louder and faster with each passing moment

Then abruptly it all stopped.

The visions disappeared, the pressure vanished and once again he could breathe, greedily taking in what air he could between his coughing. His blood that moments ago felt like fire in his veins cooled and he could move once more.

Yet through all of this, his gaze never left those cruel vermillion eyes that regarded him as one might regard an insect. An annoyance barely worth notice or consideration merely something to be stepped on and forgotten.

A fanged smile appeared in the darkness revealing rows of sharpened fangs malicious intent practically radiated from the beasts fanged grin. a hint that the only thing stopping it from using his body as a toothpick were the bars between them.

For a moment there was silence and then the beast opened its mouth, the smell of death and rot hitting him as a deep voice reminiscent of rumbling thunder addressed his crumpled form.

**"Hello, oh Warden mine..."**

* * *

**Chapter Complete!**

**I am happy to be back, not being able to write gave me a lot of time to look back at my story and refocus myself which I really appreciate but nothing beats being back to writing! **

**I want to give a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed, liked, favorited, and followed the story as well. It really means a lot to me to have so much support for my first written work especially when there are so many talented writers on here.**

**I know this story is far from perfect but it has been really encouraging to know that people actively want to see where this story will go and that makes me super pumped.**

**With that mushy stuff out of the way let me explain some things really fast that I wasn't able to before based on some of the feedback people left.**

**Is Hinata a closet RTN version of herself?**

**No, at least not intentionally haha. I wanted to make her more assertive and playful than before but she's not going to be kinda yandere or anything. You could say it might be a mix I guess but it wasn't what I was going for.**

**Have you made any progress on deciding if this is a harem story or not?**

**Yes actually, while there is no final decision I am leaning towards yes because it seems like people are kinda curious to see relationships explored with the changed characters. (Kira, Shikari, Satsuki and possibly others I decide to change) but also with the already existing ones as well so that would satisfy both but some people don't like harem stories and I want to make sure the story doesn't devolve the female characters into a bunch of collectibles.**

**I'm not sure when romance will become a more noticeable part of the story so the choice is still up in the air but I do want to write some slice of life style moments for the characters to interact in so those might pop up.**

**Are you going to explore Naruto and Satsuki's past at some point**

**Of course, but it's not going to be in super long flashbacks but rather little moments here and there to help flesh that out. Most of their development going forward will come during their upcoming interactions.**

**How strong is Naruto currently, is he chunin level seeing as he beat Mizuki?**

**I would put him around high genin, low chunin. He whipped Mizuki in part because Mizuki underestimated him and couldn't use Jutsu since he was trying to maintain his cover and couldn't afford to be signaling his location. Also, Mizuki is an instructor not really a super active ninja so he's a bit weaker than average skill level for his class. **

**Like I said Naruto will probably end up pretty powerful in this story but it will be earned he will lose and he will win and grow at a fairly believable pace as I see fit.**

**There were other questions but I will address those as they become more relevant to the story later so for now I hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**Please review and let me hear your thoughts!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, with that said please enjoy the chapter!**

**Back again, thank you all as always for taking the time to read the story and if you are enjoying it I'm glad. There is a lot in this chapter and I had a few mixed feelings on it but I think it turned out okay. Also please read the note at the bottom since I want your input on something, thank you and lets jump back into it!**

* * *

**"Hello, oh **_**Warden**_** mine..."** The deep baritone voice rumbled through the hollowed room, faux politeness in its tone as the creature looked down upon him like a predator sizing up its prey.

"W-What are you?" Naruto choked out, his voice tight and hoarse as he struggled to recover from the lingering burning sensation in his lungs. He remained sprawled along the flooded floor in front of the cage his body refusing to obey his commands despite his best efforts.

The creature's fanged smile grew wider at his question, razor-sharp teeth shining in the darkness.

**"I'm hurt, you came to visit and don't even have the courtesy to remember who I am."** The creature presented a facade of mirth but Naruto could almost taste the contempt that was woven into its every word.

**"Let me remind you only this once, mortal..."** The ground began to shake once more as slowly the beast made its way out into the light revealing its true face.

"K-Kyuubi..."

The beast no longer obscured by the darkness of its cell stood towering before him, its ruby red eyes framed by dark black fur that flared out towards its long pointed ears. Its upper body was structured like a human, the beast even possessed human-like hands tipped with long gleaming claws larger than any bladed weapon he'd ever seen.

Its most defining feature, however, were easily the nine furry tails that waved lazily behind it removing any doubt of the identity of the creature standing in front of him.

This was without question the same monster that had devastated his village twelve years ago.

**"Well done, good to see to see your eyes work at least since your puny mind seems to be less than adequate."** The beast mocked its '_pleasant_' tone never once wavering as it looked down upon him quietly testing and judging him.

Ordinarily, Naruto would retort at the insult to his intelligence but at the moment he could barely think let alone speak in the presence of this monster, it was as if the power just unconsciously radiating from it was pressing down on every part of him, like a fly in a storm he was powerless in front of such a primal force.

**"How pathetic,"** The Kyuubi sneered, its previously amused facade falling away to display irritation,** "You don't even have the strength to stand before me, do you?**

The water surrounding them began to churn violently as the beast anger manifested and the feeling of death returned once more sending Naruto's body into a spasm, his limbs locking and unlocking rapidly as fight or flight instincts warred for control.

**"Get out of my sight, I will not waste my words on a mere **_**insect!**_**"** The Kyuubi shouted and let out a deafening a roar releasing a gust of wind that sent Naruto flying backward, his body crashing harshly into the opposite wall with a harsh thud.

The last thing Naruto saw before darkness took him was the snarling face of the fox before he knew no more.

* * *

_**GASP!...**_

Naruto shot up out of bed, his body covered in cold sweat and his breath heavy as he struggled to get a hold of his breathing.

_Had that all just been a dream?_

It had felt so real though... even now his hands still trembled just remembering how suffocating it had been kneeling before the fox, those piercing red eyes that had held him captive unraveling all that he was and ever would be under their burning gaze.

The beast had judged him, he had been laid bare before it and found lacking...

It was both humiliating and terrifying, humiliating that with all his training and supposed strength that he was still just an ant in the grand scheme of things, a bug wandering aimlessly unaware of just how outclassed he really was.

The terror came in knowing that despite being the jailer he held no power over the Kyuubi, he was for all intents and purposes a walking prison in title alone. The beast had greeted him as warden...

He was no such thing.

The Kyuubi did not respect him and it sure as hell did not fear him, it was merely forced to tolerate him.

He had not planned to meet with fox so soon or at all really, certainly not with so little preparation and under such stressful conditions, though as he stared at his still shaking hands he very much doubted any preparation on his part would have been enough to face such a creature. It hadn't even bothered to take him seriously not deeming him worthy of even conversing with, it had toyed with him and mocked him and allowed him freedom from his suffering only out of disgust.

Taking a shaky breath Naruto stepped out of bed and slowly made his way to the bathroom. Turning the shower on Naruto stripped himself before stepped inside, taking comfort in the warm water running down his body and feeling his muscles relax as the heat of water washed over them.

He took solace in the soft pattering of water hitting the base of the bath, the steam from the heat soothed his lungs and gave him a small bit of clarity. He knew at some point he would need to face the fox once again but the idea of standing before the demon again made his legs tremble, he needed to be stronger.

It seemed he could never get a moments rest, the encounter with Mizuki, the revelation of his status, and meeting his tenant all within a few hours of each other weighed heavily upon him. Perhaps he should take the Third's advice and just relax for once...

A break sounded really good right about now, and he knew once he was assigned to a team he would probably be lacking an abundance of personal time.

Besides, he had the perfect new technique to balance training and relaxation might as well make the best of it!

* * *

"Um, Naruto-kun... what exactly am I looking at right now?..."

Amagi watched in muted disbelief as ten copies of the whiskered youth filled the normally empty library, some walked busily back and forth through the halls depositing and retrieving books as they went, while others were sat down reading through various scrolls and texts, jotting down notes and engaging in various discussions.

It was a rather odd sight watching three copies of the blond get into an argument on the value of the henge technique.

The real Naruto, or at least she assumed this was the real one, sat beside her pouring over a book on elemental ninjutsu not even pausing to answer her.

"Me?" The blond answered with a noncommittal shrug of his shoulders too engrossed in his own reading to pay much attention to squabbles of his clones.

Amagi clicked her teeth and swatted the boy on his arm, "You know what I mean! Why are there ten other yous swarming my library?!"

"You don't have to hit me, I swear you and Shikari are too violent to be Naras..." Naruto pouted rubbing his arm, "And it's my new technique, the _**Kage Bunshin no jutsu**_."

"Shadow clones?" Amagi questioned, she was familiar with the standard clone technique taught in the academy but she hadn't heard of this clone jutsu before.

Naruto nodded, "Shadow clones are like the next step up from the basic clone technique. Unlike the standard clones, shadow clones are actually physical not just illusions and are capable of independent thought to a certain extent."

He gestured towards the arguing clones as proof.

"That doesn't explain why you have them running around everywhere and where did you even learn that?" She asked.

Naruto's eyes sparkled a little as he excitedly explained the most useful aspect of the jutsu, "That's the best part! Shadow clone can share memories with the caster so anything they learn I will learn when they dispel allowing me to split my attention in different directions while still committing to my studies."

"Ah, as for how I learned it well..." Naruto's smile turned sheepish as he rubbed the back of his, he knew Amagi would lay into him if she knew that he'd learned it by technically stealing the village's most valuable treasure...

"Naruto..." He could hear the undertone of impatience in her voice and the subtle narrowing of her eyes hinted at her growing suspicion.

"Okay, I may have broken into the Hokage's office and '_borrowed_' a scroll containing some of the most dangerous techniques created inside the village..."

He watched as her face shifted from surprise to horror, to disbelief, and finally settled into an unreadable neutral expression as she processed what he'd just said.

It did sound pretty bad when he phrased it like that...

Immediately she reached out and started tugging harshly on his cheeks, twisting and warping his face and earning pained yelps for the young boy as he flailed clumsily in her grasp.

"Owww! Amagi-chan I'm sorry please let go this hurts!" He pleaded comically large tears spilling from his eyes at her assault on his face.

"I should strangle you! What possessed you to break into the office of the damn Hokage and _STEAL_ from him?!" She shouted shaking him.

"It was for a good reason and the Hokage was okay with it!" He quickly explained as he struggled to pry her hands off his face.

She briefly stopped shaking him and looked deeply into his eyes for any hint of deception but only found the unwavering honesty in his clear blue eyes. She sucked her teeth once more and released his now cherry red cheeks, chuckling softly to herself as he pitifully moaned and rubbed at his sore face offering her a childish pout.

He was such a handful...

"You've been a ninja for a day and already you've grown twice as troublesome." She sighed and ran her hands through his hair, she'd picked up the habit when he was younger and it just stuck. He never complained about it so she never stopped, it was their little thing.

"So, I take it I should expect to see your clones running around here all the time now?" She asked.

Surprisingly Naruto shook his head, "I would love to have clones here all the time but the jutsu description stressed that the brain can only handle so much information at once. I'll need to rest between sessions until I adapt to the strain more, right now I'm just testing my limits but I'll probably send a few clones down every so often while I'm out training when we get our team assignments though."

Amagi nodded her head, it made sense if the jutsu took in everything the clones experienced and sent it back the brain would have to sort through not only the memories but the different perspectives and sensory inputs which would no doubt be extremely taxing.

"Speaking of your team assignments, do you know who you'll be paired with? Any preferences?" She questioned.

Naruto again shook his head, "The Hokage said out team assignments were pushed back a week so I won't know until then. As for preferences, I'd like it if I was paired with any of my friends really."

He actually hadn't put much thought into who might be on his team with all that had happened yesterday, now that he actually considered it he wasn't really sure who he'd get paired with. In the most likely scenario based on chance, he would get lumped with some of the civilian born students who managed to stick with the program but were otherwise unremarkable which would be a pretty big letdown.

In his friend group there were some pretty good options, in the best case scenario, he would be put with either Hinata, Kira, or Shikari.

Hinata and he had excellent teamwork and their trust in one another was near unshakable which led to them dominating in team activities since they could quickly and easily adapt to each other's tactics and knew how to cover each other's weaknesses. The two of them would make a pretty solid team even if their third member wasn't up to par.

Kira's aggressive style would couple well with clones to overwhelm opponents and her tracking skills would pair well the scouting abilities of his clones as well ensuring nothing could hide from them and allowing for a relentless seek and destroy setup. They were also rivals so he would definitely have to push himself to keep his skills a step ahead.

Shikari was a masterful strategist which more than made up her lack of pure physical strength, the two of them were incredibly tricky to fight when paired up balancing brains and brawn to take down any obstacles in their way with minimal effort.

In the worst case scenario, he'd be stuck with Sakura, Ino, or Satsuki. Sakura and Ino still weren't super fond of him, they were civil but nothing more and in his mind, they were both pretty weak compared to the other clan children and he wanted to be teamed people that would push him to be better.

His main problem with Satsuki was her attitude, she was very uncooperative with almost everyone and she only worked with him because in her own words "He was slightly better than trash". Even then she still demanded to take the lead whenever they were paired up and she was just as likely to fight against him as she was with him.

He could only hope he ended up on a team with at least one person he liked but there was no point in worrying about it, it was out of his hands anyway.

He would spend the rest of the morning chatting with Amagi while his clones continued their work, taking the time to just enjoy a small pocket of reprieve from the stress of his life while he could.

After bidding the cheery librarian goodbye Naruto made a quick stop to Ichirakus. He had planned on celebrating his graduation with a feast but had been caught up in stealing the Forbidden Scroll and stopping Mizuki.

Might as well reward himself now for a job well done!

"Old man, Ayame! I need two bowls of miso stat!" He hollered, hopping into his favorite seat with practiced ease as he took in the familiar and heavenly smell of starchy goodness emanating from the back kitchen.

Ramen was without question the food of the gods! It was such a shame he couldn't eat it all the time but rules were rules.

"Oh Naruto, there you are! Ayame and I had been expecting you yesterday after your exam. When you didn't show we got a bit worried that it might not have gone well but judging by that armband of yours it seems we were worried for nothing." Teuchi gave a short laugh as he began gathering the materials for the boy's order.

Naruto grinned and sat up proudly in his seat, "Of course there was nothing to worry about, I told you I'm going to become the best ninja this village has ever seen and no measly test was going to stop me!"

"We don't doubt it one-bit Naruto-kun." The soft voice of Ayame chimed in, popping out from the back of the kitchen, "After all if you were able to give up eating dad's ramen for you dream I can't imagine you'd accept anything less than success." The older girl gave him a teasing smile as she sauntered over to them.

"Ugh, don't rub it in my cheat day isn't for another month." He grumbled, when he was famous he would eat all the ramen he damn well pleased.

Ayame gave a slight giggle at the boys pouting face and offered him a small reassuring pat on the arm, "Ah, don't worry Naruto-kun we'll be sure to whip you up a special batch of ramen for the occasion."

Naruto offered the ramen waitress a beaming smile and rapidly nodded his head in thanks, kami he loved this family!

Ayame's smile turned mischievous, "Ara, maybe you'll even bring one of your little girlfriends this time hmm..."

Naruto's previously bright smile immediately vanished as nearly choked on his spit, "A-Ayame w-what are you talking about?!"

The older girl puffed out her cheeks and gave a playful glare to the sputtering boy "You heard me! You're always talking about one of your little lady friends but you still haven't introduced us to a single one!"

From the back, Teuchi laughed heartily as his daughter grilled the increasingly flustered boy. His little girl had definitely inherited her mother's personality that's for sure as he watched Ayame push all the right buttons to turn the generally confident blond into a stuttering mess.

"Ayame-chan they are just my friends who happen to be girls, it's not like that!" Naruto argued, though his cheeks spoke volumes of how uncomfortable he was with the conversation.

"Do you think they're cute?" The ramen waitress asked completely ignoring the blonds attempts to shut down the conversation and leaning into his personal space further embarrassing the whiskered youth as he tried to hold her back.

"I'm not answering that question!" he huffed, turning his head away so he wouldn't have to look at the older girls smug expression.

"That not technically a no, so you _do_ think they're cute!" she squealed earning a loud groan from the boy who banged his head hopelessly against the counter.

"Old man help me please!" The whiskered youth pleaded the desperation palpable in his voice.

Teuchi gave one last laugh as he walked over and placed the blond's ramen before him, "Alright Ayame leave the poor lad alone, when he's ready I'm sure he'll bring one of his little 'lady friends' to meet us."

The older man had to fight hard to suppress another round of chuckles at the defeated glare the boy was sending him.

Ayame had no such restraint and burst into a fit of giggles and after a few moments Naruto couldn't help himself and started laughing as well his previous embarrassment replaced with tingling warmth as he interacted with the pair telling stories and enjoying meals.

He really loved Ichirakus.

* * *

Naruto admitted he hadn't really accomplished any real training today, having spent most his day in the library and trading stories with the Ichiraku's yet, despite his seemingly wasted day, he felt much better than he had this morning. Rejuvenated might be an appropriate way to describe it, physically he was unchanged but he was in a much better headspace compared to last night.

Even his looming problem with the Kyuubi seemed smaller which he was silently thankful for. It wasn't like he could go around asking people for advice on dealing with an unruly and chaotic demon so any distraction was a welcome one.

Besides, the day hadn't been a total bust seeing as he had the key to the next step of his training in his hands already, or more specifically his back pocket. Reaching into his ninja pouch he pulled out a small box with a little leaf insignia etched into the front.

The box itself was rather unremarkable merely the packaging for what was tucked safely away inside, specifically a few sheets of high-quality chakra induction paper. He had made a quick last minute stop to a supply shop to stock up on more kunai and saw a deal on packs of them.

Normally Naruto would be completely against wasting his precious money on a few thin squares of paper but these were no ordinary pieces of paper. Chakra induction paper was used to determine elemental affinity or more specifically which nature transformation the user was most aligned with based on their chakra.

According to his reading, it was hypothesized that chakra nature was determined by a few factors though it wasn't broken down to an exact science since there were not many efficient ways of testing it. Some believed that personality traits were a good indicator of certain affinities.

An example being, a ninja that was rather easy to anger was more likely to aline with the fire element than a ninja who was calmer or more reserved. Others believed location played a big part in chakra natures pointing out the ninja often shared an element with the country they lived in, shinobi from Kumogakure, for example, were more likely to possess the lightning element than any other element.

However, there were no guarantees and any person could end up with any element, that was not even counting some bloodlines he'd read about that actually combined multiple chakra natures!

If he wanted to make any use of his massive reserves he needed to know what jutsu he should prioritize, while his research had informed him that any person could cast jutsu from any nature with enough practice, jutsu that matched the user's chakra type would generally be more powerful, easier to learn, cast quicker, and use up slightly less chakra overall.

If he utilized the right techniques he could theoretically spam certain moves while barely dipping into his reserves, coupled with a good few shadow clones and he could be his own walking army!

He was giddy just thinking about it.

Rushing home Naruto quickly cleared his desk of scrolls and carefully pulled out both his book on chakra natures and his newly acquired induction papers. Flipping through his book he looked up the possible reactions he could receive.

A fire affinity would cause the paper to smoke and light itself the intensity of the flame and heat produced would be an indication of the strength of the affinity with results. It is advised to keep a glass of water on hand in case of a particularly potent fire affinity.

Naruto quickly went and got himself a full glass of water, he didn't want to chance possibly burning his home down in case he followed the Fire Country trend.

Moving on, a water type affinity would cause the paper to quickly become damp and if the user has a particularly powerful affinity for this element there have been cases where the paper will fall apart due to the moisture. Okay, at least water wasn't near as volatile that was a positive.

Next up was earth, if the user posses an earth affinity the paper will crumble like soil falling out of an open hand if the user has a particularly high affinity for this element the pieces of paper will actually release a smell similar to that of freshly tilled dirt.

Earth wasn't a bad element by any means but is he was being honest it was probably the one he wanted the least, it just didn't appeal to him but he would make due if he had to.

Nearing the end was lightning if the user has a lightning affinity the induction paper will wrinkle, shrinking inwards. The more wrinkles the paper posses the more powerful the affinity those with an extremely high alignment towards this element have noted the paper will actually shrink into a ball when used.

Naruto couldn't help but really hope he possessed a lightning affinity, the idea of throwing around arcs of raw energy appealed to a base desire for power. Plus, it would look so badass!

Last up was wind, if the user has wind nature chakra the induction paper will split in half upon contact, a greater affinity for this element will result in cleaner and more numerous cuts depending on the strength of the alignment.

He decided he wouldn't bother reading possible bloodline results seeing as he didn't have one to his knowledge and he didn't want to go getting his hopes up for nothing.

Grabbing one of the thin but surprisingly sturdy pieces of paper from the box Naruto took a deep calming breath before sending a small pulse of his chakra through it, watching intently as the sheet adopted a faint blue glow before gently fading back to white.

For a moment Naruto wondered if maybe his paper was defective and a frown of disappointment settled on his face at the seemingly worthless scrap of paper in his hand.

That thought was quickly dismissed however when the paper finally reacted and Naruto could only watch on in shock.

The paper in his hand didn't just split in half rather it was more appropriate to say it shredded itself into tiny pieces, little ribbons of a once whole sheet now rested in his palm like confetti.

And it wasn't done.

Naruto felt his moistness on his palm and upon closer inspection, he could see that bit of paper resting in his hands were in fact fairly damp, the mass becoming mushy and clumped as the pieces began to stick together.

An insanely high wind affinity and respectably strong water affinity as well!

Naruto could help but grab another piece of paper and try again, he had to be sure that his first results weren't some freak accident, again he pushed his chakra through a fresh piece sheet of paper and within moments the process repeated itself, the paper tore itself apart and went damp in his hand once again.

"I am so badass!" Naruto couldn't help but cheer to himself as he confirmed that he indeed possessed not one but two elemental affinities! From what he'd read most people only ever had one, it was rare for someone to have a dual element type this discovery opened so many opportunities, quickly grabbing his book Naruto went through his knowledge of his two elements, starting with his weaker affinity for water.

The water element was generally used for defensive or supplemental jutsu like water walls or summoning heavy mist, that was not to say it lacked offensive potentially because in the right situations the element could easily bring forth just as much if not more destructive power than its flashier counterparts if used properly. This element held an innate advantage over fire users, paired dangerously with lightning users, and was weak against earth.

He could definitely think of some uses for water ninjutsu and having some support techniques would definitely come in handy in the future, better to be a have a more well-rounded arsenal than a hyper-aggressive or defensive set.

For his wind affinity, he actually had to look up more on it since the element just wasn't commonly found anywhere outside of Suna and even there it still wasn't common. Something about it had very strict requirements that made it the rarest element.

The wind element was all without question an aggressive element, it did possess some supplemental uses but had nearly zero defensive ability, rather focusing on cutting and slicing. Apparently, wind also had a lot of versatility for all ranges of combat, coating bladed weapons in wind chakra allowed for greater cutting power, and at medium, to long ranges, wind style ninjutsu could be used to pelt opponents with anything from compacted air bullets to sweeping gales.

Overall after going over just the basics from the reading Naruto couldn't help but feel he'd majorly lucked out, two good and more importantly versatile affinities were much better than he could have hoped for!

That left him with a dilemma though, which affinity did he start training with first?

The obvious answer would be his stronger wind affinity but due to its rarity, he could hazard a guess there would probably be less material for him to work with which would quickly stall his progress. Not to mention the book had noted that wind users had mentioned that the element could be rather difficult to get the hang of early on.

His water affinity, on the other hand, would likely have an abundance of books, notes, and scrolls from him to look through seeing as the Tobirama Senju was a master of water ninjutsu, and the element was much more commonly found.

Suddenly his wind affinity didn't seem so useful anymore...

Naruto quickly slapped his cheeks and shook off those negative thoughts, since when did he let difficulty rule over him?! For now, he'd focus on his water affinity but he would work on his wind affinity with his clones he was sure there had to be some basics he could work through until he was confident enough to start experimenting on his own.

If he couldn't find any wind jutsu then he'd just have to make some on his own!

His course decided Naruto quickly stored his books and the remaining chakra paper away before getting to work on a new training schedule. He had the rest of the week to learn at least one jutsu before his team assignments if he was really lucky he might be able to get two down with the use of clones.

Some might call that cheating but his encounter with the fox taught him he didn't have the luxury of always being fair, he needed to be more prepared before he set out into the world and he was going to use everything he had to survive.

He had promises he needed to keep after all.

His assumption that the village library would be lacking in wind instruction has proven correct much to his dismay, barring a few short scrolls offering some vague details and conjecture there was nothing he could really use to progress in that avenue, so sadly wind ninjutsu would have to be put on hold until he had more to work off.

Thankfully he was correct in his other assumption as there was an abundance of information on molding water natured chakra, its uses, common mistakes to avoid, and most importantly a range of jutsu ranging from offensive to supplemental.

As a genin, he could only access jutsu up to C-rank and below but it even among those there was plenty of decent options. In fact, he'd already picked two out having spent the morning reading up on everything he could regarding water release techniques.

So having found a training ground with a fairly decently sized pond Naruto got to work with the first technique he'd picked out, a supplemental jutsu known as _**"Water Style: Grand Boar Pit no Jutsu"**_

The name was much more dramatic than the jutsu itself. The Grand Boar Pit technique was a D-rank supplemental jutsu that involved the caster drawing water or water natured chakra into the ground, turning the affected area into a mud pit. Initially, he had overlooked the seemingly simple technique but the more he considered it he actually found it had a lot of utility and it suited his needs well.

Firstly it required the caster to mold water nature chakra which by itself would help him get used to the process of doing so, before injecting said chakra into the ground turning dirt into mud and muck. The jutsu's effectiveness was also determined by the amount of chakra poured into it meaning the more chakra the user had the faster and more viscous the mud became.

Perfect for a chakra battery like himself.

The technique could be used to throw off an opponent's balance, slow them down, blind them if they fell into it, and with enough chakra theoretically trap weaker targets. The only downside was it took time to activate and required the user remain in direct contact with the ground while being performed.

Overall not bad for a first jutsu, not the greatest but he knew better than to dismiss less flashy or powerful techniques. Not every battle could be won with just pure power.

His second jutsu would make up for that, however, having gone with a more offensive based attack,_** "Water Style: Water Bullet no Jutsu"**_. The premise for this technique was also rather simple the user gathers chakra and churns it inside them before expelling it from their mouths in the form of a blast of pressurized water. The damage came more in the impact force through the Second Hokage was known to be able to actually punch holes through stone with the jutsu.

Naruto, however, didn't think he was ready for that move yet, for now, he just wanted to get used to converting his chakra and expelling it.

Running through the signs Naruto called out his new jutsu and slammed his hands onto the earth and saturating it with a burst of his chakra. He watched as the ground in front of him grew slightly darker denoting a bit of moisture and marking semblance some progress but otherwise the dirt remained solid.

He didn't get discouraged though, he would master both of these techniques before the week was up! With another shout he repeated the process over and over, each attempt a little better than the last...

**Chapter done! **

**I had a lot of idea's bouncing around this chapter that I'm sure you can clearly see.**

**Naruto's first meeting with the fox has not gone over well, has it? **

**I wanted to make Naruto's first interaction with the fox set the tone for their future interactions. I also wanted to establish Kyuubi's actual power scale because in my mind he should be fucking terrifying, he's massive, rude, malicious, and manipulative and not to mention arguably one of the most powerful beings in this world. and I wanted that to come across and I think I did a fairly good job for a first attempt.**

**There was a lot of light-hearted stuff in this chapter too though?**

**I didn't want to just wear down the story and make it super dark, that's not what this story is I'm not having Naruto fall into the depths of madness or anything so I think it's important to have a balance between serious storytelling and light-hearted moments that show more sides to both the world and the characters. I also wanted to reintroduce Amagi and properly introduce the Ichirauks since I've neglected both and they worked to add that levity I was looking for.**

**Elemental training already and no bloodlines?**

**Naruto is not doing the traditional elemental training he does in the show, not yet at least for now he's just using the knowledge to perform the jutsu he is a long ways off becoming a master.**

**As for bloodlines, I was so very tempted to give him something but I pulled back because I didn't want to completely throw that idea in. That said with how chakra works in this story and some ideas I'm considering Naruto may be able to create some close impression of bloodline techniques, who knows?**

**The library seems really convenient a bit too convenient…**

**In my mind there would need to be some way for non-shinobi born children to learn basic and increasingly advance techniques, I don't think it's reasonable to expect every jounin to be solely responsible for passing on jutsu. The library just makes more sense so sorry if it feels like every problem can be solved that way. New methods will pop up as the story goes on.**

**PLEASE READ THIS:**

**Okay so next chapter will be the team assignments and I already have an idea for what I want for that. However, I want to hear any team combinations you think might be interesting and why?**

**I could end up changing them based on suggestions and if I like the idea so please if you want, feel free to leave me what you think would be interesting to read.**

**Anyway, that's all for now I'll see you all in the next chapter!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own thoughts, with that said enjoy the chapter.**

**This...this is a long one and probably also the one chapter I feel most conflicted about, I'm kind not fully satisfied with the beginning but I think later half of the chapter is pretty solid. Also editing this was a real pain so I hope things turned out alright, I don't have a beta or anything so I do just have to read over everything myself and it's hard to notice every little flaw, especially after you've been writing for like 5 hours!**

**Anyway, I hope you like it and without further delay let's jump back in!**

* * *

"Kunai holster, check...ninja wires, check...Gamma-chan, check...I think that's everything." Naruto mumbled to himself as he stepped out of his apartment and out into the village. He had to be sure he was completely prepared for today.

Team assignments were a big deal after all.

The week had passed by much faster than he'd expected but even so, he still felt that he was more than ready for anything, his training had gone better than he'd planned so he'd actually made more progress than he'd set out for. He also had to admit he was excited to finally get out and make a name for himself.

No more kiddie stuff it was time for the real deal shinobi experience! He quickly grabbed his things and made his way out weaving through the market stalls and morning crowds with ease.

He arrived at the Academy in record time having long since memorized all the shortcuts during his time as a student, the familiar wooden gates stood proud as ever welcoming him back as he entered the threshold for what he hoped would be the last time.

Not to say he didn't like the Academy or anything but he had spent more than enough time here to justify a change in scenery.

He slid open the door to his classroom and quickly made his way inside, looking at the assembled students it seems he'd arrived a bit later than most of his friends, but he wasn't actually late judging by the handful empty seats he could see scattered about.

"Hey, Whiskers! Stop standing around and get over here already!" Kira barked, waving her arm at him in her typical enthusiastic fashion, her usual toothy grin plastered on her face.

Naruto shook his head as he swiftly made his way to his usual seat, "You could at least let me enjoy it one last time, we probably won't be back here again for a while you know. It's going to feel a bit weird not being here anymore."

Kira just leaned against him using him as a makeshift armrest and subtly flaunting her larger frame against his, "You sound like an old man Whiskers if you think you're gonna miss this place so much maybe you should turn in that headband of yours and stay another year." she teased.

Naruto snorted and pushed her off him, "You wish if I quit then whos gonna be there to put you in your place?" he smiled as her grin turned into a small scowl and she punched him lightly in the arm.

"Shut up!" She growled, "I am only down by two in our spars just you wait I'll kick your blond ass and prove that I'm top dog once again!"

"Uh huh, whatever you say Kira-chan."

He couldn't help small laugh as the Inuzuka heiress just sucked her teeth and grumbled about 'smug blonds' and 'whiskered bastards'.

Turning around Naruto addressed his other friends, "Yo! Choji, Shika-chan you two are pretty quiet, are you guys not even the tiniest bit excited or curious to find out who you'll be paired with?" he questioned the duo.

Choji offered a small wave with his free hand before answering "I don't really know, Shikari thinks we'll be put together with Ino to remake our parent's famous team formation so I'm not really worried about that I guess, I'm more curious what kinda guy our sensei will be though..." The boy trailed off munching absentmindedly on his bag of chips.

Naruto nodded that would make sense, the Ino-Shika-Cho combination was scarily effective during the Third Shinobi War from what he had read about them so it wouldn't be that surprising to see the Hokage try and recreate it with their children.

"How would you guys feel about working with Ino?" he asked, he knew Yamanaka heiress was friends with the two but she often went off on her own when she could so he never really saw them interact often.

Shika answered this time, lifting her head from her arms and giving a small yawn before looking down at him, "Another troublesome blond to deal with would be a hassle but nothing we can't handle I guess..."

Naruto put his hand over his heart and leaned back dramatically, "Shika-chan are you perhaps implying I'm troublesome?! You wound me..." he sighed out feigning injury but had to bite back a chuckle hearing Choji snorting to himself at his theatrics.

"I'd do more than wound you if it wasn't so much work, idiot..." She sounded annoyed but he could see the slight upward quirk of her lips that she tried to hide behind her hand and he smiled knowing she didn't really mean anything by it.

"Ah one day Shika-chan you'll admit you enjoy my company!" he grinned.

She merely offered an amused grunt in response before put her head back down, adopting her usual resting pose and signaling the end of their discussion.

Naruto pouted at the dismal before turning back to face the front and instantly spotted his best friend making her way towards them.

"There you are Hina-chan, you're rather late young lady." He teased adopting a deeper and intimidating voice and giving the bluenette playful glare.

Hinata laughed as she slid with her usual grace into her seat by his side, "Ah, forgive me, my lord, it shan't happen again I assure you."

He grinned and nudged the smaller girl, "Hmph, I will forgive you just this once I suppose."

She giggled softly at her friend's usual antics as she settled into her seat, "Truly your kindness knows no bounds." The two of them shared a small laugh at their little performance.

"Hey, Hina-chan are you excited to finally find out our team assignments? Anyone specific you are hoping to get paired with?" He questioned.

Hinata closed her eyes and took a moment to think on his questions before answering, "I'm both excited and a little nervous to be honest" she admitted, "As for who I'd like on my team I think I'd be okay with almost anyone but if I could pick than naturally, I'd prefer if we were placed together." she finished, an almost unnoticeable hint of red dusting her cheeks.

No matter how close the two of them were Hinata still got embarrassed when vocalizing her feelings, it was one of the few remnants of her childhood behavior that she couldn't quite get a handle on.

_It didn't help that he was looking at her with that big goofy grin of his while he leaned onto her shoulder!_

"Aww you're so sweet Hinata!" he cooed before jerking back with a yelp courtesy of a sharp jab to his side from the now flustered girl, "Ack! I'm sorry no jabbing please!" he begged, holding his now sore side and shifting away from the now huffing Hyuga.

Gentle fist his ass, those were finger pokes of death!

"Don't tease me." She pouted, puffing up her round cheeks giving her a mousey appearance that sent waves of guilt crashing through him. Gah, why did she look so vulnerable? He'd watched her dent training logs with a single hit she wasn't allowed to look that frail!

"I'm sorry I'm sorry just stop looking at me like that!" he pleaded.

Hinata held up her pout for a moments before breaking out into another fit of giggles as she watched him try and shield himself from her gaze his arms switching between protecting his stomach and covering his eyes.

He wasn't the only one who could play that game.

"I guess I can forgive you this time... but you have to buy me some cinnamon buns later as an apology." She said, her tone leaving no room for argument.

"...Are...are you blackmailing me Hina?" He asked.

The look promptly returned.

"Okay okay! I'll get you your buns just stop!" He cried, sometimes he kinda missed the old shy Hinata, he had helped create a monster, a small, cuddly, innocent looking monster...

May Kami forgive him.

Before he could lament on those thoughts further Iruka walked in and took his usual position at the front of the class his warm black eyes filled with pride as he looked upon the students he'd instructed over the past five years, for a moment he said nothing simply reminiscing about all the experiences they'd shared over the years before finally speaking.

"Good morning! I know that from this point on you are no longer my students but my equals, fellow shinobi of Konoha, however, I must admit I am so honored to have had the privilege of helping to guide you all to where you are today. Regardless of any differences, we may have had over these past few years I say with complete honesty that I would gladly stand by you all as both a fellow comrade and as a friend should you ever need it."

Naruto and the rest of his class broke out into applause and cheers at the man's encouraging and heartfelt farewell words and he swore he heard some sniffles from around the room as reality finally sunk in for a few people.

They really were about to leave the safety and familiarity of the Academy and venture out on their own off into the next chapter of their lives...

Iruka smiled and waited for them to settle down before pulling out a small piece of paper, "I will now be announcing your team assignments, these were chosen by the Hokage himself so I don't want to hear any complaints!"

Just because he was proud of them didn't mean he forgot how picky some of his students could be.

"Team One will be..." Naruto tuned Iruka's voice out as one by one he called out the individual students, the only thing he was interested in was his own team and where his friends were going he didn't care much about the rest if he was being honest.

"Team Seven will be, Naruto Uzumaki..." Naruto quickly snapped back to attention and crossed his fingers and prayed…

"Sakura Haruno..." Naruto's eye twitched and he took a deep breath to calm himself down, okay he could work with that he could still get one of his friends at least, I mean the odds couldn't be that bad. Fate wasn't that cruel right?

"and Satsuki Uchiha!"

Fate wasn't just cruel, she was a grade A bitch!

Naruto sat numbly in his seat as the words passed through his mind again and again. Sakura and Satsuki?! What kind of divine punishment was this?! He faintly registered Hinata and Kira offering him sympathetic pats on the back as the two could only wince at their friend's poor luck.

He was going to have a hard time...

Even Iruka felt a bit bad reading that out knowing the blond wasn't exactly on favorable terms with either of his teammates but that was life he supposed, he'd just have to adjust and make the best of an unfortunate situation.

Moving on, "Team Eight be Shino Aburame, Kira Inuzuka, and Hinata Hyuga!"

Kira nodded fairly happy with her team, she would have liked to have Whiskers with her so she could prove she was stronger than him, but Hinata was good too and she supposed she could always beat him up later. She didn't mind Shino either but he was a bit too quiet in her opinion.

Hinata frowned, she actually liked her team Shino was nice enough not much of a talker but always polite and helpful when needed and for all their bickering Hinata didn't have any real problems with Kira, but she couldn't help but hope that she'd be placed with her blond friend...

Shino merely nodded forever the strong silent type.

"Team Nine is still in circulation from last year so Team Ten that will be made up of Choji Akimichi, Shikari Nara, and Ino Yamanaka!"

Choji nodded happily and continued munching away at his chips, Shikari grunted her acknowledgment but offered no further commentary, and Ino clicked her teeth in annoyance but accepted the outcome likely having been told by her father to expect it.

"You're jounin instructors will be here shortly to pick you up, good luck to you all." With his job finished Iruka gave one last bow to his students before making his way out of the classroom.

"I can't believe this..." Naruto moaned into his arms at the unfairness of it all. Why him?! Had he kicked puppies in a previous lifetime? Maybe he had been a serial killer and this was his punishment...

"There there Naruto-kun maybe it won't be so bad?" Hinata tried to reassure him, "Who knows maybe they'll warm up to you." she offered weakly, though he could tell even she didn't fully believe what she was saying.

Kira snorted and offered her own opinion, "Hinata don't try and sugarcoat it we all know Whiskers is totally screwed." She said bluntly, in all their years together she'd never once seen the Uchiha or Haruno girls say a positive thing about the blond. She highly doubted that would change just because they were forced to be around each other.

"I'm with Kira on this Hinata-chan but thanks for trying." He sighed and sat up taking a moment to inspect his new 'teammates'.

Satsuki was in her usual seat by the window brooding, her hands folded in front of her glaring ahead with her default expression of annoyance. Beside her sat Sakura and Ino, both were trying and failing to engage with the closed of heiress but seemed determined to crack the stoic girl's shell no matter how much they were ignored.

Overall it did not exactly paint a happy picture of future full friendship and comradery for him.

Before he could complain further the door to their class opened again and in stepped two new figures one male and one female.

The male was rather tall, with brown eyes, olive skin, short black spiky hair, and a beard. His clothing consisted of the standard Konoha ninja uniform with the sleeves rolled up halfway, a flak jacket, regular shinobi sandals, and forehead protector. He also wore a sash that had the kanji for "Fire" marked on it around his waist, a pair of black bangles, and bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves.

The woman had fair-skin and was slender in build. She had long black untamed hair reaching her upper back and very unique ruby colored eyes. She wore some make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eyeshadow and her regular outfit consists of a red mesh armor blouse with only the right sleeve visible. Her hands, torso and upper thighs are also wrapped in a bandage-like material and she wore the basic Konoha forehead protector and regular shinobi sandals.

The male spoke first stepping forward, "Team Ten, come with me." the man's voice was gruff and to the point fitting his appearance. He offered a nod to his companion before walking out forcing Choji, Shikari, and Ino to rush out after him not wanting to be left behind.

Shaking her head at her friend's callous approach she called out next, "Team Eight you all will be with me." Her voice was firm but had an undertone of kindness and unlike her fellow jounin, she actually waited until her students were ready before leading them out.

Naruto waved his farewells as his friends walked out his mood souring slightly as the last of his friends trickled out.

Slowly more and more teams were picked up and soon enough the only people left in the classroom were himself, Sakura, and Satsuki.

"Where the hell is our sorry excuse for a teacher?!" Naruto banged his head on his desk, it had been over an hour and no one had arrived to get them. Was this some kind of joke were they being punked?

"Be quiet moron!" Sakura hissed, "What if they walk in and hear you complaining, they'll hate you and by extension us!" Outwardly she glared at him but on the inside, she fully agreed with him just as pissed off at having to wait around.

Not that she'd even openly say that.

"Then at least it'll be mutual hatred..." he grumbled before turning to face the other occupant in the room, "What about you oh great Queen of the Emos you agree this is a massive waste of time right?"

Satsuki narrowed her eyes at his taunt but said nothing more than, "Hn..."

"You are aware that isn't an actual word the least you could have done was thrown in a vowel or something." He deadpanned but was ignored as the raven-haired girl had already returned to her brooding.

Someone kill him, please...

Just as he was weighing up the pros and cons to leaving the door slid open once more and in stepped a male figure faintly familiar to the blond though he couldn't quite place it.

The man wore Konoha's standard infantry clothing with a flak jacket, dark blue pants, and a long-sleeve shirt. On his hand, he wore dark fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backhand and he used his headband as a makeshift eyepatch coupled with a facial mask hiding his nose and mouth from view.

However, it was the man's gravity-defying silver hair that proved to be the most noticeable thing about his appearance.

The man paused and stared at them with his one eye for a moment before calling out in a lazy voice "Team Seven?"

The three genins nodded, not like there was anyone else here.

The man paused again and nodded before speaking "My first impression of you three..." The trio leaned in, curious to hear his thoughts.

"I don't like you... meet me on the roof." With that, he walked back out closing the door behind him.

The three of them sat in silence brows violently twitching at the casual dismissal. He made them wait for over an hour and had the nerve to say he was the one who hated them?!

The three lept from their seats and muttering obscenities and curses as they made their way up towards the roof...

"Good, now that you've all made it we can finally begin introductions." The silver-haired instructor drawled out, disinterest in his voice as he glanced between them.

"Um, Sensei what would you like us to say?" Sakura asked meekly, shrinking in her seat as his single eye focused on her.

"Just a basic introduction your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and your dreams if you want." He answered.

"Could you start us off Sensei, show us how it is done?" Questioned the pinkette.

The man sighed and shrugged before speaking, "My name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are not important, I dislike a few things, and I have many hobbies. My dreams for the future, I don't really know." The now identified Kakashi supplied cheerfully.

The three of them couldn't stop themselves from releasing small sighs of frustration, that introduction didn't tell them anything!

"Your turn bubble gum." He said gesturing at Sakura, earning him a nasty glare for the nickname before she started her introduction.

"My _name_ is Sakura Haruno, my likes are shopping, my parents and reading." the girl also shot a quick look at the Uchiha who as per usual ignored her, "My dislikes are annoying people..." she gave a look at Naruto when she said this, who merely waved at her with a mocking smile "and Ino-pig. My hobbies...I don't really have any I guess and my dream is to become a strong kunoichi and make my parents proud!" She finished.

Kakashi nodded and gestured next to the brooding Uchiha, "You next sunshine."

Satsuki scowled and sat up, "Hn... My name is Satsuki Uchiha, I don't particularly like anything, I hate many things, my only hobby is training. As for my dream...," she paused and clenched her fist, "My dream is to kill a certain someone and avenge my clan." she finished, sliding back into her hunched over position.

It was quiet for a few seconds as her words settled in a tense silence falling onto the group before Kakashi clapped loudly breaking it as swiftly as it had appeared.

"Last up is you blondie." He said turning to face his tallest student.

Naruto grinned and nodded, "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! My likes are my friends, ramen, and training. I dislike people who judge others for things they have no control over, con artists and the three minutes it takes to for instant ramen to cook. My hobbies include training, reading, and hanging out with my friends I guess. My dream is to become the strongest shinobi this village has ever seen!" he finished pumping his fist into the air.

Kakashi nodded, so he had a girl playing ninja, a moody avenger, and a hyperactive blond...

Not the worst group he'd even been assigned.

"Right, with introductions out of the way I guess should tell you about your upcoming test," Kakashi said, "Tomorrow morning you three will be reporting to training ground seven for a survival exercise."

Sakura frowned, "What is the test for Sensei? We've done survival exercises before why are we doing them again?"

"I'm glad you asked, this test only has one purpose," and for the first time since they'd met him, Kakashi adopted a serious tone, "To determine whether or not you three will become true shinobi."

Kakashi watched his potential students tensed in shock and prepared himself for the inevitable shouts of outrage.

He wasn't disappointed.

"What do you mean?! We all passed the exams aren't we already ninja?!" Sakura cried.

Naruto and Satsuki nodded their agreement as they stared down their new 'Sensei'.

Kakashi merely shook his head, "True you've all showed promise by passing your exams, however," his eye single eye bore into them, "All you've proved is that you have_ potential_. Potential without the knowledge to use it is useless, this is your chance to prove you really deserve to wear those headbands."

The three genin's faces turned grim at the knowledge that despite all their hard work they still weren't technically proper shinobi just yet...

Kakashi carried on as if he hadn't just shaken their whole world, "I'm sure you'll all be fine, after all, you three seem pretty confident in your abilities." He said with a smile.

At least they thought it was a smile it was hard to tell with that mask of his.

Kakashi stood up and walked to the edge of the room, "The test will be at 7 am so make sure you don't oversleep," he waved as he turned to face them once more before speaking some final words, "If you want some advice I'd recommend you skip breakfast tomorrow it won't do you any favors."

With his peace said the masked jounin disappeared in a swirl of leaves leaving three uneasy genin in his wake.

Naruto couldn't help but frown as he processed in all he'd learned today he had possibly the worst team possible, a tardy and apparently extremely apathetic instructor, and apparently, his future hinged on a test he had no way of preparing for.

He could already feel a migraine coming on...

Looking at his teammates he could see they were similarly quiet, both wrapped up in their own thoughts on the situation. Kakashi said that they would be doing a survival exercise, a live test to see if they were ready to face the outside world, beyond the safety of Konoha's walls.

Whatever Kakashi had in store for them would likely be more intense than anything they'd faced before...

"Well I don't know about you two but if we're going to be tested then I think we need to come up with some kind of plan for tomorrow." He said bluntly, snapping the two girls out of their thoughts.

Satsuki narrowed her eyes at him, "What makes you think I need any help from you? Whatever test he has planned I can pass on my own I don't need your help." She wasn't about to be dragged down by either of her supposed teammates.

Her goals were too important to be stalled by two fools playing ninja.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "We were put in teams for a reason Princess, whatever we face tomorrow we have to face it together. We don't know what he has planned but the least we can do is prepare ourselves now and have a little bit of faith in each other."

Sakura abruptly cut in, "How_ exactly_ are we supposed to prepare for a test we have no information on? And more importantly, why should we even trust you at all it's not like you know any more about this test then we do." she stared at him with doubt written across her face.

_Kami this was like pulling teeth!_

Naruto sighed and ran a hand through his hair, why couldn't he have been placed with at least one person who had some sense or didn't have a massive superiority complex?

"He just told us it would be a survival exercise, obviously he plans to put us in some kind of scenario to see what we're really capable of and the easiest way to do that would be some form of combat or retrieval exercise. If I'm right then we go in with higher chances if we can work together." He explained.

He looked between them as they considered his words mulling over his argument.

_Maybe they would listen to reason?_

His hopes were dashed, however, when Satsuki shook her head and turned away from them her hands shoved in her pockets she made her way to the door leading back into the academy.

"I don't need your help, either of you..." She clarified looking between them before turning her head, "You'll only slow me down, just make sure you don't get in my way tomorrow." and with that, she made her way down into the Academy ignoring his shout for her to stop and reconsider.

He turned to face his other teammate, she seemed conflicted and for a moment he thought maybe he'd convinced her, but old habits proved hard to break and with a slightly apologetic look she also shook her head and quietly followed after the Uchiha heiress.

"Well, this blows..." Naruto couldn't help but sigh, staring out across the rooftops as he considered his options. He had really hoped at least one of them would listen to him but it seems like he would have to work alone if he planned on passing.

He had some preparations to make.

_***Training Ground Seven next day***_

Naruto made his way to the training grounds running different scenarios through his head as he crossed the wooden bridge that led into the center of the training field.

He'd done the best he could with the time he had, hopefully, it would prove enough to secure his position but without knowing just what kind of test Kakashi had in store for them he'd remain on guard just in case.

Arriving at the center of the field it appeared that he was last to arrive, he could see Satsuki leaning against a training post with her eyes closed and arms crossed.

Sakura, diligent as ever, was at her side trying to start up a conversation with their less than friendly teammate, though he noted her shoulders seemed to sag and he could see slight bags under her eyes hidden away by a bit of makeup.

Seems like she hadn't slept very well.

Sakura was the first to notice his approach, turning from the silent Uchiha to address him in her usual fashion.

Loudly and violently...

"You're late, idiot!" The pinkette shouted glaring at the taller blond strolling in casually. He should have been here a half hour ago!

Naruto ignored her screeching and searched around, "Where is Kakashi?"

Sakura huffed and replied, "He hasn't arrived yet we've been waiting but haven't seen him." The irritation was palpable in her voice as she spoke about their less than punctual instructor.

"Then I'm not really late now am I?" He questioned cheerfully, taking small pleasure in seeing the pink haired girl sputter before throwing her hands up in frustration and sitting back down against one of the posts too tired to bother dealing with him further.

Seeing that both his teammates appeared content to ignore his presence. he sat himself down and pulled out a puzzle book he'd brought with him on the off chance something like this happened. He had no intention of sitting around for another hour bored out of his mind.

Plus puzzles helped him relax, something that came as a shock to people who hung around him frequently.

* * *

_***Two Hours Later***_

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted cheerfully, walking nonchalantly into the clearing his usual eye smile in place as he waved towards his prospective students.

_**"TWO HOURS! HOW ARE YOU TWO HOURS LATE?!"**_ Naruto and Sakura screamed in unison, past grudges temporarily set aside in the face of their fury.

Even the normally stone-faced Satsuki offered her own less vocal disapproval with a heated glare at the masked-nin quietly signaling her own displeasure at having been made to wait so long.

Kakashi merely rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Ah, sorry I ran into a black cat on my way here so I had to walk around the village to avoid any bad luck."

_**"THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE!"**_

Ignoring their shouting Kakashi continued, "Seeing as everyone is here and you all look ready to go I think it's best to get started now, we have to make the most of the day after all."

The three of them watched Kakashi pull out two silver bells out of his pouch before holding them out in front of him for them to view.

"Your test is simple, all you have to do is grab a single bell off me and you'll pass. It doesn't matter how you get it you just have to do so before time runs out." As he said spoke he pulled a small clock from the same pouch and set it down on top of one of the nearby post.

"You'll have one hour to get a bell, whoever fails to get a bell will be tied to a post and forced to watch as those who succeeded receive one of these get these nice, homemade bento to eat." Kakashi pulled out two bento boxes from...somewhere?

At once the sound of three growling stomachs echoed through the field, so that's why he'd warned them not to eat!

"Any questions before we begin?" he asked.

Sakura raised her hand and spoke, "But Sensei there are only two bells though, how can we each get one if there are three of us?"

Kakashi gave another eye smile, "Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that whichever of you fails to get a bell will be immediately sent back to the Academy and will have to try again next year."

Instantly their eyes widened in fear at that piece of information, none of them could afford to go back for another year!

Sakura didn't think she could bear the shame of being left behind her classmates, especially not Ino of all people! Not to mention she wouldn't get to keep her place on Satsuki's team which to her had been a sign that she'd finally have the chance to befriend the most popular girl in the Academy!

Satsuki growled lowly, she didn't have time to spend back in the Academy she couldn't afford to waste any more time. Not while_ he_ was still walking around unpunished...

Naruto clicked his teeth and glared at Kakashi, he had spent enough time in the academy he couldn't fail now, not after he worked so hard to get this far he would never forgive himself!

Kakashi gave them a moment to digest the newly added stakes before addressing them again.

"Now that you know what you have to lose I hope you'll impress me, I'll tell you now if you don't come at me with the intent to kill you won't stand a chance of passing" He took in their determined and somewhat nervous expressions and nodded to them, starting the clock.

Time to see what they would do.

Immediately the Uchiha and Haruno girl scattered, making their way into the surrounding foliage and masking their chakra as best they could. He could still sense them but it was a good attempt hiding was a big part of their job description but they were still too green to escape his senses. The Uchiha was hiding in the trees to his left while the Haruno girl was tucked away in some nearby bushes.

However, it seemed not everyone on his team decided to hide.

"You're a weird one you know, are you not going to follow your teammates lead and hide?" He asked, amused at the glare the blond had fixed upon him.

"I very much doubt I could hide from you even if I wanted to, might as well confront you head on now than wait for you to come looking for me." Naruto replied simply never taking his eyes off the silver-haired jounin.

Kakashi offered a small chuckle at the blunt response, this one had guts he'd give him that but guts didn't always translate into success, he'd teach the blond now that sometimes it was better to run and hide than stand and fight.

"Then, by all means, come at me when you're ready I'm in no rush, after all, it's your test." he replied lazily looking down at the boy.

Naruto slid into his stance and tensed when he saw Kakashi reach into his ninja pouch...

_Was he going to draw some kind of hidden weapon?!_

That thought flew out the window when instead of any weapons the jounin pulled out... a book?

"Are...are you going to read while we fight?!" He couldn't stop the indignation from seeping into his voice. He understood that the ninja standing before him was much stronger than he was but such casual dismissal made one thing clear to him.

The man didn't view him as a threat, so much so that he wasn't even going to bother paying attention to him.

Naruto couldn't help but be reminded of his meeting with the Kyuubi, and the humiliation of being looking down on. Of being so outclassed by an opponent that you weren't even on their radar.

"Of course, how else will I find out what happens next?" was the masked-nin's casual reply, his single eye focused completely on the text in front of him not even bothering to look up at the whiskered boy.

Naruto grit his teeth in annoyance, if that's how the man wanted to play this than fine.

He'd make sure he wouldn't make that mistake again.

Charging forward Naruto pounced, using chakra to enhance his speed he quickly closed the distance and lashed out with a kick to his opponent's side.

Kakashi blocked it without even glancing up, redirecting the blow with ease.

Naruto continued undeterred launching punches, kicks, and jabs from every possible angle looking for an opening in the man guard but every blow was blocked, redirected, or dodged completely.

And not once did Kakashi look up from his book...

"Your taijutsu isn't bad but if that's all you have then you might as well save me the time and quit now." Kakashi informed him, his tone even not showing even the barest hint of exertion from the blonds assault.

Naruto sucked his teeth ignoring the man's words and launched himself back quickly flinging two kunai one after another in his direction, one towards the man's head the bells and the other the bells at his waist.

Kakashi planed to simply tilt his head and swivel in place and allow the weapons to fly harmlessly by...

He did not expect what happened next, however.

The first kunai aimed at his head flew passed as expected, but Kakashi was unprepared for the second kunai to erupt in smoke mid flight, a copy of the blond popping into view before to him reaching out for the bells as it sailed closer.

Kakashi tried to turn faster to quickly strike the clone but didn't miss the sound of his student calling out a second technique.

_**"Water Style: Great Boar Pit no Jutsu!"**_

Immediately the ground beneath him became unstable turning into slick mud, coupled with the momentum of his spin, caused him to momentarily lose balance for a split second. The clone now right next to him reached out its hand sill outstretched towards the bells at his waist.

The copy's hand brushed against the bells, tapping them with its fingertips before it was unceremoniously dispelled by a strike to the head.

Kakashi quickly regained his balance and stared into the somewhat pleased but simultaneously frustrated face of the whiskered youth. He had to admit the boy had him for a moment, that probably would have worked on a less experienced ninja. Now he had to be careful of transforming weapons.

It seemed the boy wasn't as direct as he looked.

Using chakra to keep his footing on the now muddy ground he spoke, "I have to admit that was pretty clever, It seems I underestimated you a bit." Kakashi admitted but remained absorbed in his reading.

Naruto scowled, he had hoped that the masked-nin wouldn't be able to react in time but that had backfired. Hell, the man had barely moved from his spot the entire time!

He needed to pull back and think of something else, reaching into his pouch he pulled out a smoke bomb and dropped it using the cloud cover to retreat into the trees behind him and make some distance.

Kakashi watched his student disappeared in a cloud of smoke and ran off into the trees, it seemed the blond was going to take some time to regroup after his failed attempt.

He wasn't as clueless as he'd first thought, and he had to admit after the blonds clever little trick he was curious to see what the others were capable of. Closing his book he decided it his turn to go on the offensive.

Sakura ran from her position in the bushes as she saw her target vanish from the center of the clearing. Her mind replaying the exchange she had just seen.

She didn't know Naruto was so skilled, she knew he was one of the top students in the more physical activities but he'd never shown off like that before preferring to just do enough to complete a given task.

_More importantly, where had he gotten solid clones from? That definitely wasn't something they'd been taught at the Academy!_

Her line of questioning was broken by the sounds of pained groans coming from the line of trees in front of her. Pulling out a kunai, she shifted into a shaky defensive stance, adrenaline pumping through her as the groans grew louder and nearer to her position.

She waited and stared into the rows of trees, she tightened her grip on her blade when she noticed something or someone shuffling towards her...

She dropped her kunai in horror as the figure revealed itself to be Naruto, but the normally carefree blond was covered head to toe in wounds, various bits and pieces of weaponry sticking out of from all angles embedded within his body and blood pouring from his wounds and mouth as he stumbled towards her arm outstretched.

"S-Sakura...h-help me...K-Kakashi found m-me..." The beaten blond coughed out, crimson streams ran down his body staining the ground red as the life fluid poured freely out his broken body.

Sakura couldn't move too shocked at what she was seeing.

She would freely admit she wasn't a fan of the whiskered boy but they were still classmates for Kami's sake! Sure he could be annoying sometimes but he didn't deserve to die, did he?!

The smell of copper filled her nose and before she knew it she felt her legs give out her vision went dark as the bloody form of Naruto stood over her, still pleading for help.

The last thing Sakura did was let out a scream of terror before she embraced the darkness...

Kakashi watched from his position in the trees above, awkwardly rubbed the back of his head while he looked down at the now passed out girl. He might have gone a little overboard with the genjutsu but in his defense, he hadn't expected her to faint maybe run or better yet recognize that the situation didn't make sense and dispel the technique.

Shaking his head sadly he headed off in the direction of his last student leaving Sakura to lay in the grass.

He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn't notice a pair of eyes watching from the foliage as he hopped away...

* * *

Satsuki turned her head hearing a scream off in the distance, her eyes narrowed as she identified the voice as belonging to her pink-haired teammate.

It seems the girl had been found and dealt with.

Satsuki shook her head, she had no time for weaklings that would drag her down. If she wasn't strong enough to get herself out of whatever situation she was in that was her own fault. Of course, that line of reasoning led her to thoughts of her other teammate.

Since when had he been able to make solid clones? Where had he learned that mud technique? How long had he been keeping them a secret and what else didn't she know about him?!

She hated to admit it and would never do so publicly even upon threat of death, but she had actually been somewhat _okay_ with having him on her team, he was one of the few that could ever push her in the Academy having defeated her more than a few times to her annoyance but quiet respect.

To think he'd been hiding his true skill this entire time set her blood boiling in her veins. Was he mocking her by holding back?! After this test was over she'd force him to take her seriously one way or another!

"That's an interesting face you're making there, Satsuki-chan."

She was startled by the sound of a familiar voice speaking out next her, launching herself back she turned to find her target standing calmly where she had once stood smiling at her.

She hadn't even sensed him approach and he was standing right next to her!

"Hn, you've saved me the trouble of tracking you down I'll be taking a bell off you now." She glared at him falling into her clan's_ Interceptor_ stance as she looked for any openings to exploit.

"You say that but neither of your teammates managed it, though Naruto put on a good effort." He replied in a bored tone, not at all worried about the girl in front of him.

"I'm nothing like them!" She snared and charged forward.

"We'll see how true that is..." he said and easily blocked a punch from the young girl before jumping over a leg sweep lashing out with a jab that sent her stumbling back.

Satsuki growled and charged again launching a barrage of kicks trying to use the length of her legs to maintain some distance while she looked for an opportunity to snag a bell but Kakashi proved he wasn't a jounin for nothing and kept her at bay with minimal effort.

Growing frustrated at her lack of progress decided she needed to switch tactics, going for a leg drop which Kakashi blocked with his forearm she used him a springboard to launch herself into the air away from him before running through a series of hand seals.

Gathering chakra as she sailed she waited until she was at distance before releasing her technique in a burst of chakra.

_If she couldn't beat him down then she'd just have to burn him up!_

_**"Fire Style: Grand Fireball no Jutsu!"**_

Kakashi's single eye widened as he watched a medium sized fireball make its way down towards him, he didn't expect her to have the chakra to pull off that technique at her age!

Satsuki watched as her fireball crashed into her sensei, the familiar heat wave sent her raven locks fluttering behind her as the fire consumed everything before it. For a moment fear gripped her, the idea she might have accidentally fried her instructor only occurring to her now as she searched the lingering embers for any sign of her opponent.

She was unprepared for the sudden shift in the earth beneath her, looking down she saw a familiar fingerless gloved hand had grabbing at her ankle?!

She was unceremoniously pulled down, her body being dragged down with barely any resistance as she was caught completely unprepared for the unexpected maneuver.

Kakashi popped out of the ground in front of her, patting himself down before addressing his now buried student, "That was pretty good but it looks like for all your talk you're not much different from your teammates."

Satsuki could only struggle against the earth holding her but with no leverage to push with, she remained trapped only able to glare at the retreating back of the silver-haired nin as he walked off disappearing back into the tree line.

"Well, that was pretty entertaining I have to say." A new voice sounded out.

She watched as her other teammate walked into sight, the unconscious form of Sakura on his back an infernal vulpine grin on his face as he looked upon her entombed form.

"Get me out of here!" She growled, of all the people to find her in this position it had to be the blond bastard himself.

Naruto shook his head while he gently placed Sakura's body against a nearby tree before squatting down in front of her.

"I'll let you out but you have to agree to work with us to get a bell from Kakashi first." He spoke offering her an ultimatum. He would not let her out until he had her word she would work with them.

Satsuki bit the inside of her cheek, her pride wanted her to refuse him outright to say she could do this by herself, but she had no alternative she was stuck and without assistance, she would never make it out of this blasted hole in time to get another chance...

"You said work with 'us', pinky over there doesn't seem like she's in any position to make that choice." she said trying to distract him long enough to come up with any other plan.

"Once you agree, she'll agree now stop stalling and listen to me."

Well, there went that idea. She swallowed her pride and reluctantly nodded agreeing to hear him out. If his idea sucked she could simply refuse and make a last ditch attempt on her own to grab a bell.

Naruto smiled and clapped his hands, "Great let me just wake up Sakura and we can make a plan of attack, moving over to the girl he gave her a gentle but solid few shakes and within moments the pinkette began to stir, emerald eyes fluttering open as she came face to face with the grinning whiskered visage of her supposedly dying/dead teammate.

"N-Naruto!" She shrieked backing away quickly from the now confused boy

"Shh! Keep your voice down!" He half whispered half shouted trying to quiet the girl he didn't need Kakashi finding out where they were.

Granted he probably knew exactly where they were but he could hope.

"H-How are you alive! I-I saw you bleeding out on the ground and..." The girl trailed off putting the pieces together seeing a perfectly intact Naruto standing before her.

"Genjutsu..." She kicked herself for thinking their sensei would actually kill one of them during this test!

Naruto placed his hand on her shoulder in a gesture of reassurance, he wasn't sure exactly what she'd seen but her reaction was enough to earn a bit of sympathy from him. She had clearly been distraught by whatever it was Kakashi had shown her.

Sakura gave a small smile at the gesture before taking in the sight of a buried Satsuki...

"If you scream I will actually beat you when I get out of here." The Uchiha spoke with complete seriousness.

Sakura just shook her head, she was too stressed out to even muster the strength to question it. As long as everyone was alive and unhurt she was content for the moment.

"How much time do we have left?" She asked as she watched her male teammate dig out their trapped ally.

"I think a little less than half an hour, give or take a few minutes, I haven't seen the timer since I found you a little while ago." He replied freeing pulling the Uchiha heiress out of the ground with a grunt of effort.

Sakura frowned, that didn't leave a lot of time and they had all been swiftly defeated without so much as touching a bell. Well, other than Naruto but that didn't count since it was a clone that touched it technically.

Satsuki dusted herself off and turned to face the blond, "So what do you suggest we do then? We don't have time to waste standing around here." She ground out tapping her foot impatiently against the dirt waiting for the blond to reveal his master plan.

"What I want is for us to work together, none of us are getting a bell on our own we've all given it our best and we've had our assess handed to us, together we might at least be able to pull something off rather than just outright failing again." He explained.

Sakura jumped in pointing out the elephant in the room, "Even if we work together and get the bells that still means one of us has to go back to the Academy..." She looked between her teammates and knew that both weren't keen on that idea at all.

Naruto sighed and spoke up, "If we somehow pull this off then..." he ran his hand through his hair and continued, "I'll stay back." he finished, shocking them as his face settled into a grim frown.

"Of all of us I have the least to lose really, Satsuki has her ambitions and you want to make your parents proud, I suppose I can use the extra year to grow stronger and pass next year!" He finished a quiet resignation in his voice.

Satsuki frowned slightly, she was happy she had a guaranteed pass if they actually managed to get the bells but the idea of sacrificing someone else on her behalf didn't fully sit well with her. Especially not someone she sort of respected...

Sakura was similarly conflicted she wanted to be happy with the arrangement but could she really allow the blond to fail just so she could pass? Sakura hated to admit it, but she knew that she was substantially weaker than both her teammates and even then she would be allowed to pass but at the loss of her arguably more deserving teammate.

That just wasn't fair.

"Look I have one plan that might work but I need both your help to pull it off, so are you guys in or not?" he asked looking between them.

Satsuki and Sakura looked at one another briefly before nodding slowly.

Naruto smiled, if he was going to fail, then he was going to give that cyclops something to remember him by!

"Alight here is what we're going to do..." Naruto explained his plan as the two girls huddled in.

* * *

Kakashi sighed, he had hoped this team would actually pass his little test if he was being honest. There was clear potential there but like all the others they couldn't see past their own selfish wants...

There were only ten minutes left on the clock before the timer went off, it looked like he'd be sending them all back.

He was forced to abandon his thoughts as the distinct whistle of shuriken flying hit his ears he quickly stepped to the side allowing the stars to embed themselves into the ground by his feet.

Looking up he was met with the scowling face of Satsuki, her arm outstretched marking her as the culprit of the surprise attack.

"You got out of there much faster than I expected, how did you manage that?" He questioned, he truly hadn't expected her to get out on her own, perhaps there was more to her as well.

This group was just full of surprises.

"I told you I'm different from the rest." She charged him once more.

"Again? You haven't learned anything have you?" He waited as she closed the gap, watching as she brought her arms up he prepared himself for another fireball but was not expecting what came next.

_**"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"**_

What?!

Instantly the Satsuki in front of him was briefly obscured by smoke before he suddenly found himself being swarmed by ten copies of the raven-haired kunoichi on all sides.

Kakashi was swiftly put on the defensive as the copies weaved in and out of his guard attacking from any position they could, every time he went to dispel one two more would take their place and he didn't have the time to substitute out of while also guarding the bells.

All of a sudden the clones dispelled blinding him as his vision was filled with smoke.

_**"Fire Style: Grand Fireball no Jutsu!/Water Style: Water Bullet no Jutsu!"**_

Kakashi's eye widened at the simultaneous shouts, with the smoke clouding his vision he couldn't see where the techniques were coming from. He prepared to escape using the earth but was hit with a sudden wave of nausea at the last moment.

"_Shit_..."

Naruto dropped his henge as he watched the two jutsu crashed into where they assumed their target was, fire and water collided bathing the area in thick steam further obscuring their view.

"Do you think we killed him by accident?" There was always a risk when flinging jutsu around all it took was one mistake and even weaker jutsu could end someone's life.

Satsuki shrugged her eyes narrowed on the slowly clearing steam before them, "If he died to that then he had no business being a jounin." She responded carelessly.

"So nice to know you care." Kakashi's sarcastic voice called out from behind them.

Turning around they saw Kakashi standing looking no worse for wear, though his clothes appeared a little damp he otherwise appeared perfectly intact.

The sound of an alarm rang through the air indicating the test was now over.

"It seems you are out of time, though I will give you credit that was a pretty crafty plan you'll have more time to work out some more little tricks back at the Academy." He said waiting for the usual looks of disappointment maybe even some begging that he'd seen from teams he'd failed years prior.

However, he got neither no begging, no tears, no pleading, not even a frown!

Instead, he received two smirks from the children standing before him immediately setting him on edge, why were they smiling? They had lost, he still had the bells...

Or at least he thought he had them, his hand grasped for the distinct smooth metal spheres only to feel the cut thin string he'd attached them to, the silver bells notably absent from their base.

_When had he dropped them?_

Before he could ask the last member of the team walked out with a large smile and held up her hands proudly displaying the objects within.

Two small silver bells.

The pinkette quickly made her over to her teammates, joining them in their little stare down bells held firmly in hand.

So they'd actually managed to get the bells...but would they follow through and find the right answer? Or, would they fail and join the rest of the teams he'd sent back to the academy?

"Would you like to explain how you managed to get the bells Sakura?" He was actually curious how they pulled that off, he hadn't actually thought they would get them even if they did work together. He was a little embarrassed, to be honest, being outmaneuvered by a few genin.

Sakura shook her head and gestured to her blond teammate "It was actually Naruto's plan so he should probably explain it."

Naruto nodded and stepped forward and began explaining how they'd played him, "Well I looked at all our separate encounters with you and tried to use all the information you knew about us, against you." he started.

"I was you would be alert for my transformed clones if I confronted you myself so I henged into Satsuki to set you up since you had already fought her once and wouldn't expect her to work with me and Sakura which would make it easier to catch you off guard." he continued.

Kakashi nodded along, it made sense he didn't know them well enough to instantly spot differences in their stances and he had been preparing for another grand fireball, not shadow clones. The blond was also right given the Uchiha's attitude he assumed she would be the least likely member to team up with anyone else.

"The clones were only there to keep you in place while Sakura slowly put you into a minor genjutsu what would disorient you when Satsuki and I launched our jutsu to make you panic and draw your attention."

That explained the nauseous feeling, but that didn't answer his question.

"How did you get the bells though?"

Naruto's grin returned full force as he answered, "You played right into my hands remember the shuriken 'Satsuki' threw to get your attention?"

Kakashi's eye widened, the pieces falling into place he'd let his guard down not even thinking to check the steel stars, the clones had kept him in place and the smoke/steam combination would make for the perfect cover being in a saturated cloud of chakra it would have been easy for a clone to nab the bells and run them safely to Sakura while he was distracted!

Kakashi couldn't help but laugh, their method was unorthodox and he'd probably never again see a couple of genins pull something like this off, he almost wanted to pass them on that alone.

Almost.

Getting his laughter under control he addressed the pinkette holding the bells and moved onto the final bit of his test, time for them to show their resolve.

"Sakura you're the one with the bells so you make the decision. Who do you allow to pass and who do you send back the Academy for another year?" His voice now monotone betrayed nothing as he watched to see what choice the girl would make.

Sakura looked between her two teammates, despite their victory she couldn't help but feel like it was meaningless in the end. What was the point in winning if one of them was left behind, they had won as a team!

Naruto offered his best attempt at a reassuring smile, "Its okay Sakura, you and Satsuki go ahead we agreed that's what we'd do so don't hesitate." He didn't want the girl to feel guilty, this was a lose-lose situation from the start and he wasn't going to make it harder on them even if he didn't like it.

Sakura looked at him and for a moment an image of the bloody and battered Naruto overtook the healthy one, his cries for help rung in her ears and she remembered how she had fainted like a little girl, not the kunoichi she claimed to be...

How could she make anyone proud when she was so useless when she couldn't even help her team? Even her part in the plan had been minimal with Naruto and Satsuki doing most of the work.

She didn't deserve a place on this team, not how she was now.

Sakura shook her head and handed a bell to Naruto and Satsuki, ignoring their surprised expression she stepped forward and addressed Kakashi.

"I'll let them pass, they've both worked much harder than me and deserve to pass more than I do..." She clenched her fists tightly, shame plastered on her face as she admitted her own weakness but carried on, "If anyone should be left behind it's me!"

Naruto watched this for a few moments before shook his head and stepped up next to Sakura, "We succeed because of each other it is not fair to punish one of us for what was a group effort, I'd rather wait and try again then leave anyone behind." he tossed the bell Sakura had given him at Kakashi's feet.

"Naruto..." Sakura couldn't help the wetness that gathered in her eyes when the blond flashed her a confident smile, a sign of solidarity, that no matter what he wouldn't leave her alone.

Kakashi offered no visible reaction and turned to the last remaining member of the team.

"Your teammates have made their choice, so I guess it's just you eh, Satsuki?"

Satsuki was quiet for a while, struggling internally with herself before she sighed heavily and similarly tossed her own bell down and stuck her hands in her pockets.

"As much as I don't want to admit it I couldn't have done it without their help, I wasn't strong enough to earn it on my own so I have no business letting someone else take the fall for my own weakness." she sneered and turned away.

That was probably the closest they would ever get to her admitting she didn't want them to fail.

Kakashi nodded before asking one last time, "Is that your final answer?"

The three nodded they would not go back on their word.

Kakashi sighed, "Then I guess I have no choice in the matter, you all...pass."

"W-What?!" even the normally stone-faced Uchiha had a look of shock on her face.

Kakashi smiled, "You heard me you all pass. The test had nothing to do with the bells, the real test was to see if when the chips were down could you all put aside your own wants for the betterment of the group even if you knew that one of you would have to take the fall. Konoha shinobi pride themselves on their teamwork and you all proved today the value of comradery."

"An old friend told me once that those who break the rules are trash, but those who would abandon their comrades were even worse than trash. You stuck by your team even though you all had something to lose that's rare in our world and it's what's makes us strong."

He gave them a thumbs up, "So starting today you are all officially part of Team Seven! Report here tomorrow at 10 am sharp for missions, see ya." With a small wave, Kakashi disappeared leaving the three alone once more.

The three of them stood silent for a while, none of them really sure what to say to one another. Despite their differences, they'd all seen a new side of each other and even though they'd known each other for years it felt like they were only now really meeting for the first time.

Naruto decided he'd break the silence first, turning to his pink-haired teammate he offered out his hand and spoke with his signature foxy smile, "That was brave of you Sakura-chan you looked really cool there for a moment I'm kind of jealous, hehe!"

Sakura flushed at his words, "I-Idiot! I just didn't want to be responsible for sending you back to the Academy, Iruka-sensei would never forgive me if he had to put up with you for another year." she huffed at him, "And don't call me Sakura-chan!"

Despite her seemingly harsh words she tentatively took his hand and shook it with a smile of her own, maybe being on a team with him wouldn't be so bad after all?

Naruto laughed and looked over at his other teammate and offered her a few words as well, "Thanks for sticking with us Princess, maybe there's hope for you yet." he teased but there was a touch of sincerity in his voice that she could make out.

The Uchiha heiress scowled, "Don't expect it to happen often, I need you two for now but if you start lagging behind I won't hesitate to leave you in the dust." she scoffed, arms crossed over her chest in her usual disinterest stance.

Naruto nudged the pinkette next to him with his elbow and whispered loudly, "Hey, I think that her way of saying she actually approves of us, we should celebrate the occasion!"

Satsuki scowled and immediately began walking out of the field, promptly ignoring her chuckling teammates and trying to drown out their shouts for her to come back as they ran after her, the newly formed group beginning their trek back into the village in high spirits and just a little closer than they'd been before.

They still had a long way to go but right now they were on top of the world...

* * *

**Chapter complete!**

**My god, it felt like the writing would never end! I have a newfound appreciation for people who somehow put out 10k word chapter regularly, those absolute mad lads! **

**(this chapter is a bit over 10k not including this author's note making it the longest I've written)**

**AGAIN PLEASE READ THIS NEXT BIT I KNOW IT IS LONG BUT IT EXPLAINS A LOT AND ALSO HAS TO DO WITH THE PAIRINGS SO DO ME A SOLID AND READ A LITTLE MORE!**

**Anyway as always time for some author commentary to help explain some stuff! **

**Starting off, why did I choose to go with the canon teams even when I asked you guys for suggestions?**

**I want to start off by saying thank you to everyone who actually left suggestions, I mean it sincerely when I say nothing encourages me to write more than seeing you guys interact with the chapter!**

**With that out the way, the answer is simple I wanted/needed to work on Satsuki and Sakura's characters more and the best way to do that was to literally force them to interact with the main character.**

**Sasuke and by extension Satsuki played a pivotal role in the events of Naruto so I needed to be sure that the connection between the two of them began to build at a reasonable pace and unless I put them together now later plot points would get messy because they would seem kinda forced otherwise. This way everything (hopefully) feels more natural!**

**My Satsuki doesn't have the total arrogance that I see in a lot of fics with Sasuke because to me it is taken to a rather excessive degree. She is still prideful but I want to show that she is capable of not being a total ass and will be more willing to work with her team this will help with the character building which is a plus!**

**Sakura, as you can probably tell, underwent a lot of characterization this chapter, that was my attempt to properly define her because up to this point she and Ino were pretty much always lumped together and not really their own characters which I didn't think was fair. I will admit I am generally not a fan of her (In some fics I will say she is done very well) but I don't think its right for my bias to ruin her development.**

**Obviously, since there is no 'Sasuke' in this story, she is not a fangirl chasing love rather she's chasing popularity which makes her more rational than she's normally portrayed but still susceptible to people's opinions. Essentially I'm creating a mix of her younger cannon self and her older cannon for a more balanced character before I make any other shifts.**

**Plus I know some of you love her and I want you guys to be able to enjoy her in this story as well!**

**Will Naruto still interact with the other characters on different teams?**

**Yes! I know that sometimes teams are changed to mix and match different skill set so that will happen occasionally, but the different teams and characters will still find the time to develop and build relationships no worries on that front!**

**Onto the BIG point.**

**To harem or not to harem? That is the question...**

**We are gonna harem tonight boys! **

**I'm playing but in all seriousness, I've decided to just make this a harem fic based on how people seemed to want it and responded to different characters. To those who are groaning at yet another harem fic, I am sorry but I will try to make it bearable I promise!**

**So that, of course, begs the question, how big will it be and who will be in it?**

**That's something I'm still working out, I don't want it to be massive because, while I don't hate super big harems, with the way I write it just isn't possible for me to be satisfied with fleshing characters out and balancing a good story flow. **

**This is already turning out to be a wayyy longer story then I'd planned so I don't really want to create 100 extra chapters exploring each girl in depth lol.**

**At the same time, I acknowledge that I'm exploring some less common pairing choices and I'm sure some people might have unique suggestions they want to see written so I want to leave space for that.**

**As it stands now for who would be in it based on reviews and my writing it looks like we'll have in the pretty much-confirmed category unless I am struck by lightning and change it:**

**Hinata, I love her so shush your faces!**

**Kira, I guess everyone loves a rowdy Inuzuka and I'm the sure perverts among you have other reasons... (no judgment lol).**

**Shikari, who I actually hadn't planned on putting him with as anything more than a close friend but people wanted to see her so why not she'll be fun!**

**Now onto the maybe pile:**

**Satsuki, I know its weird to have a female Sasuke fic that doesn't pair her with Naruto but with the events of canon, I could easily still see them not together so I'll have to think about it. I've laid some small foundations if I decide to go that way but you never know.**

**Sakura, people have asked to have her with him. Like I said I'm not a massive fan of her but I could easily fix my problems with her so she's not out completely. Again I've begun laying the foundations for her to starting thinking more positively and with my plans, she could turn around.**

**Into the super unlikely and you need to provide a reason if you really want this!:**

**Ino, I just didn't have anything planned with her so my bad, if you want her though please provide some kind of reasoning.**

**Amagi, I did get a suggestion for this but I'm really not sure how I would go about it. I've written them more with a close friend/sibling relationship (not like that has stopped anyone else with some of the fics up on here lol) so it would be a tonal shift and also I don't know how anyone else feels, leave your own opinions if you wish but for now she'll stay firmly in the unlikely category.**

**Anko, she was only introduced because she was fitting for what I needed but knowing that she's appeared likely makes some people curious if she's an option. I'm not opposed to older women in the harem by any means though so if you want to see her, explain your reasons.**

***Note these lists will expand as obviously we meet more characters both in the village and outside of it this is just working with the characters currently in the story.***

**You are all more than free to suggest your own ideas though remember that!**

**Anyway, this chapter is long enough anything else I need to address I'll do next time. If you have any questions feel free to PM me and I will answer as soon as I can! **

**See you all in the next chapter!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything and with that said I hope you all enjoy the reading!**

**AN. I'm really sorry this chapter is so late, I have been swamped with college work (midterms) and other IRL stuff that I just haven't had the time to really work on this. I managed to work on this chapter somewhat sporadically during my off time but I'm not sure how it came out, especially since I didn't get to work on it in the same way I've done previous chapters (actually sitting down for hours and putting it together).**

**I'm sorry in advance if things seem off or worse you all hate this chapter but I really wanted to get something out for people who have been waiting for it and to let people know the story wasn't abandoned or anything. If this one is not great you know why and hopefully the next chapter will be better if this goes over poorly.**

**I will be finished with my last midterm Thursday so once that is done hopefully things will settle down and I won't be gone as long and things will improve(I can't promise anything though.)**

* * *

Naruto hadn't been exactly sure what he expected being a shinobi would actually entail, despite spending the last few years of his life learning how to be a proper ninja, not much about the day to day job description was actually covered during their time in the Academy. Much more focus went into ensuring that they were knowledgeable on important historical events, regional boundaries and of course that they had the skills required to take their first steps outside the walls and hopefully return in one piece.

That wasn't to say he was clueless by any means he was well aware ninja took on a wide array of jobs from daring rescue missions, target elimination, to just simple stuff like courier jobs. He just wasn't sure where genin fit into the whole machine, he didn't expect to be sent on any major assignments any time soon but there had to be something that would push him until he was ready for the more dangerous jobs.

Maybe escorting a princess or guard duty for a wanted noble?!

The mystery only heightened his excitement to finally get out into the world and see everything it had to offer, he wanted to push limits and make his mark.

The reality he was greeted with, however, proved much less glamorous...

Apparently being a genin was the equivalent of being a servant for hire to the village civilians. His team had been together for a little less than a month and all they'd done in that time were the most boring, tedious, and utterly pointless tasks imaginable.

Otherwise known as D-rank missions.

D-ranks missions covered a variety of jobs ranging from pulling weeds, taking care of children, walking pets and cleaning homes among other simple tasks. Essentially jobs the villagers were too lazy to do themselves that could be done fairly cheaply by a team of overqualified graduates.

It was annoying to be an errand boy but Kakashi had reassured them that this was something all genin had to go through for reasons he didn't fully believe.

_How did pulling the weeds in a random lady's garden build loyalty to the village?_

Speaking of the masked jounin, Naruto wasn't sure what to make of their sensei if he was being truthful. There was no doubt the man was powerful, he'd more than proven that even the three of them together were barely worth his notice, the problem wasn't in his strength but rather the fact the guy didn't really seem all that interested in actually teaching them anything!

Instead, he leaned hard into his initial lesson and had them doing teamwork exercises when not on missions, creating a series of convoluted tasks that forced them to work together to complete and would supposedly help build trust between them.

In his opinion, their sensei was just lazy and it was easier to have them learn to cover each other over actually building on their own skills. He bit his tongue for now since he was used to having to improve on his own but it would be nice to have some bits of wisdom or advice from a more experienced ninja.

His thoughts then moved from his sensei to his teammates and the shifting dynamic building between them. He would admit that two of them were a bit less hostile overall towards him after their little bonding moment at the end of Kakashi's bell test, which he counted as a positive step, but that wasn't to say everything was all sunshine and rainbows from that point on either.

Sakura, while more receptive to his ideas and more tolerant of his presence was still weighed down by years of reinforced negative opinions and nasty rumors.

It made sense seeing as she came from a civilian family and not shinobi centered clan, civilians had a much lower opinion of him and it wouldn't be all that surprising if her parents or friends had colored her perception of him over time. He appreciated she was at least opening up to the idea that he wasn't completely awful, even if it was a slow going process and he hoped with time the two might become less antagonistic towards each other, heck maybe they might even become friends.

Stranger things had happened.

His relationship with Satsuki, on the other hand, could only be described as...complicated.

After the bell test, the Uchiha heiress seemed to be torn between begrudging respect and thinly veiled contempt towards him. During their team training, she seemed to tolerate him enough to follow his lead and was willing to defer to him when it came to planning. However, on the few occasions where Kakashi had them paired up for sparring, Satsuki would hold nothing back attacking as if he'd wronged her somehow.

The most curious thing about her behavior was that she always gave him this weird look when they were paired up like she was trying to find some hidden secret or missing puzzle piece and with each failed attempt she grew more frustrated and vicious in her approach.

It was starting to get on his nerves if he was being honest.

However, they proved capable of working together well enough for Kakashi to overlook the odd behavior, swiftly falling back on his more hands-off approach.

Lazy bastard...

Naruto stared through the window of his apartment, looking out over the small slice of the village he could glimpse from the small port he had the next week off due to Kakashi apparently being needed for some urgent mission.

People sometimes forgot that jounin were vital to the villages overall strength and they couldn't be shackled to their students all the time. Occasionally, teams would be granted leave or shuffled around into makeshift squads with older ninja until their squad leader returned. In rare cases, some teams would be assigned a temporary instructor on the off chance the mission proved longer than initially estimated.

Or in the worst case, should the jounin in question perish during the assignment...

He recalled his sensei's words to them before he left for his mission.

_***Flashback Start***_

"What do you mean you're leaving?" Sakura asked, her brow scrunching as she looked up at the figure of their instructor.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Hokage-sama requested my presence for a last-minute assignment so I'll be gone for approximately a week give or take. You can't run missions without me yet so you three have been granted leave until I return." He explained.

"And what exactly are we supposed to do while you're gone?" Satsuki questioned her tone laced with barely suppressed annoyance at the seeming halt in their training.

Kakashi shrugged, "Do whatever you want, train, relax, hang out with friends I don't really care all that much."

Satsuki scowled but didn't comment further.

Kakashi did, however, throw them a bone, "I won't leave you completely high and dry though, I've spoken with the leaders of Teams Eight and Ten and they've agreed to let you sit in on their training sessions if you wish while I am away, it is completely optional though, you're adults now you and you can make your own decisions."

With his peace said and no further questions, Kakashi gave them a brief wave and as usual, disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

_***Flashback end***_

With his absence the three of them had gone their separate ways, they simply didn't know or like each well other enough yet to feel comfortable trying to organize anything and so they would simply go out on their own.

However, Naruto was much more interested in the opportunity Kakashi had secured for them than his wondering teammates. The chance to see the other teams in action was not something to be dismissed lightly since even among allies team training was generally a private affair.

To Naruto, who had spent most of his life having to take any opportunity that he could get his hands on, the chance was too tempting to just ignore.

The only question was which team would he visit first?

His initial thought had been to start with Team Eight seeing as both Hinata and Kira were in that squad and the chance to see two of his closest friends was very tempting since due to obligations to their own respective teams the three of them had not really seen each other much since they had been split up.

In the end, however, he decided to start with Team Ten instead.

He reasoned that the opportunity to see the new Ino-Shika-Cho formation in action would prove to be a more helpful seeing as he already knew plenty about the Hyuga and Inuzuka clans, and as a bonus he would get to check in on Choji and Shikari at the same time which put Team Ten just barely ahead on his list.

Plus if his visit proved less than successful he'd rather end the week on a high note with Team Eight.

His course of action solidified Naruto began getting himself ready for his upcoming outing.

* * *

_***Training Ground Ten***_

Naruto carefully made his way into the training field, he knew just how twitchy shinobi could be when caught unaware so he made sure to keep on his guard on the off chance any stay kunai or jutsu made their way towards him.

Though he quickly discovered he really didn't have much to worry about.

In the center of the field were Team Ten, Shikari and Choji were sat comfortably on one of the few patches of soft grass scattered around the mostly dirt training ground. Ino stood over them waving her arms erratically and appeared to be shouting something that he couldn't quite make out from his position.

Beside the trio the bearded jounin he'd seen during their team assignments looked on from the sidelines, rubbing the bridge of his nose as he watched his team interact with what Naruto assumed to be exasperation or maybe it was resignation.

Already this was proving to be a far different experience from his own team's interactions the yelling not so much, Sakura had quite a pair of lungs on her and readily let the world know about it, but rather the more laid back vibe he got just looking at them.

Making his way towards the group he managed to catch the tail end of what appeared to be a rather passionate rant.

"-hy are you two so damn lazy?! Come on, It's no wonder sensei doesn't think we're ready yet!"

She must have been yelling for a while, he could easily spot the red flush on her normally pale face and her breathing was somewhat labored indicating she her tirade had probably been rather lengthy.

He wasn't sure if now was a good time to interrupt the clearly occupied group but he had already made his way here...

Coughing into his fist he decided to interrupt their little moment, "Ah am I interrupting something?" he tentatively asked.

His voice quickly turned their attention to him, multiple pairs of eyes all locking onto his position each with varying levels of surprise and curiosity in their gaze.

"What are you doing here?!" Ino half asked half accused standing proud with her hips cocked and arms crossed.

He ignored her sharp tone, instead offering a small wave to Shikari and Choji, the latter of which cheerfully waved back while the former merely muttered to herself and nodded slightly in his direction.

"Don't you ignore me Uzumaki! Why are you here?"

He rolled his eyes, "You know I might be more inclined to answer you if you didn't say my name like you stepped in something foul."

She scowled at him before turning to her sensei, "Isn't there some kind of rule against other teams nosing into other people's business?"

Shikari snorted, her head barely held up by the flat of her palm, "The self-proclaimed 'Queen of Gossip' is going to complain about other people being nosey? How troublesome..."

"Who's asked you?!" She growled out, annoyance in her voice at her teammate's less than helpful side comments.

Shikari merely closed her eyes and tuned the blond out falling silent once more.

Ignoring his bickering students the bearded jounin instead addressed him, "You must be one of Kakashi's brats" He paused and briefly looked him over before continuing, "He told us some of you might stop by, but I can't say I really expected any of you to come based on how he described you three." He admitted bluntly.

Naruto could help but slouch at that bit of information, what had Kakashi been saying about them?!

He cleared his throat once more, "Ah, well Kakashi-sensei said that we had permission to sit in and observe some of the other teams training." he rubbed the back of his head nervously, "I was curious how well teams other than ours operated so I thought there was no harm in at least stopping by."

Once more the man's eyes swept over him as if weighing his words against his actions. He was quiet for a moment before speaking.

"What's your name kid?" The larger man asked.

Naruto didn't doubt the man already knew it, but he wasn't about to call him on it.

"Naruto Uzumaki, sir." He answered.

"Sir?" he laughed, "Nah the names Asuma, Sarutobi Asuma." He introduced himself lighting a cigarette and taking a short draw from it.

"Sarutobi? Are you related to the Hokage?" he inquired.

He knew there was a Sarutobi clan but they weren't nearly as large as some of the other major clans within the village and a large part of their status came from the actions and achievements of the Third though having been around since before the founding of the village their name carried a certain level of respect regardless.

"I'm his son, though that's not something I like to advertise I'd like to think I'm my own man." He replied gruffly, not in a threatening or angry way but rather just a clear indication that he had no desire to be relegated to his father's shadow.

Naruto simply nodded, he could sort of understand the man's sentiment, after all...

He had lived in the shadow of the Kyuubi since the day he was born, he saw nothing wrong with wanting to be your own person.

The man in question sighed and scratched at his beard as he mulled over the situation before speaking, "Well I gave Kakashi my word so you're free to observe these three but I wouldn't expect too much." He said earning him another glare from Ino at the barely concealed insult.

"What?! Do you think Uzumaki here is better than us?!" Ino challenged stomping up to her sensei undaunted by the rather large difference in their heights.

"He's taken the initiative to come all the way here on his day off which tells me a lot about him, you three on the other hand..." He gestured towards her and her slothful team as if there was nothing else to be said.

Asuma watched as the Yamanaka heiress's face grew furious as she rounded on their now bewildered and slightly fearful guest.

Naruto took a half step back at the enraged scowl of his fellow blond and could only lament that he probably should have gone with his gut instinct and visited Team Eight instead...

"_You!_", Ino pointed at him forcefully, "You're going to help me prove to this bum that we're more than strong enough to handle higher level missions!" She growled out marching back to him.

Was that what all this was all about? More challenging assignments?

Then again he couldn't help but feel slightly sympathetic, there were only so many times you could be asked to chase down a runaway pet or pull up weeds before it wore down your nerves.

That said, he didn't really understand how any of this was his problem.

"Um, I don't really think that's my call and how would I be able to help prove anything?"

Ino scowled, "You always scored highest during our combat and strategy drills, if we can take you down then that'll prove to sensei we're more than ready to move past painting fences!" She stated as if the answer was obvious.

What kind of logic was that?! Did she conveniently forget he was just a genin himself and that beating him didn't really prove anything?

He looked to Asuma, eyes filled with pleading to call the girl off, but instead found the gruff jounin masking a smile behind the smoke of his cigarette.

He didn't like that smile one bit...

Asuma walked over to him and rested a large hand on his shoulder, "That's not such a bad idea actually," He took another short drag from his cigarette and spoke, "How about a little wager, kid?" he asked staring down at him.

He narrowed his eyes while he wouldn't call himself a gambler by any means he would at least hear the man out, "What kind of wager are we talking about?"

Asuma grinned and gestured to his team, "You spar with my team in series of one on one matches, if you beat all three of them then they'll all owe you a favor. If they manage to put you down, however, then you'll owe them a favor and I'll see about getting them a higher level mission."

Naruto thought over Asuma's proposal quickly figured out his plan, it was actually pretty clever in its simplicity. The bearded jounin had essentially made him the target of his team's or more specifically Ino's frustrations while removing any of his own obligations in the matter. If he won then he would take the heat for beating them, and if he lost then he still owed them which would pacify them should Asuma go back on their deal.

It was pretty much a lose-lose situation on his end and the obvious thing to do would be to say no and walk out of this clearing right now and not look back.

However, he had come here to see the team in action and what better way to do that but actually fight them? He'd never actually sparred with any of them before and with the Academy limiting them to hand-to-hand combat only it would be a good opportunity to see what they could do with no limits.

That didn't mean he was going to accept without making his own demands though he wanted to gain a little more out of this.

"I'll accept but only if I can get a favor from you as well." He said staring right back at the larger man undaunted.

Asuma actually looked a bit surprised, he supposed he hadn't expected a genin to push back a little, not insubordination by any means but it was a slight challenge nonetheless.

Seeing the looks of his students, or rather one of his students since the other two were more or less uninterested in the exchange, Asuma knew if he didn't accept Ino would be right back to complaining.

He chewed lightly on his cig before nodding, "Fair enough if you win I'll owe you something as well, deal?" he asked offering his free hand for a shake.

"Deal." Naruto replied taking the hand and doing his best not to wince at man's tight grip, seemed like Asuma realized his little stunt.

Ino cheered as her goal appeared to be within her grasp and rounded on her teammates, "You two better get your butts in gear I don't wanna lose this chance because of you!"

Shikari yawned and stared blankly back, "I don't remember either of us agreeing to this," she drawled out, "You're the one that wants harder missions don't drag us along with you, troublesome blond..."

Ino didn't miss a beat, "Ah but it was Asuma-sensei that made the bet and as our leader, he's in charge so you have to participate unless you are disobeying an order from your commanding officer?"

Shikari scoffed and considered her words, she could easily see the flaw in Ino's argument, nowhere in this exchange had Asuma actually _ordered_ them to fight the blond they didn't need to fight if they didn't want to.

So clearly she was trying to bluff them into it, the sheer confidence and speed Ino had fired back with was just a cover for her lie, a minor case of psychological warfare to coerce them into following along, as expected from a Yamanaka...

She silently weighed up the pros and cons of each outcome, if they won which was not guaranteed, they would be forced into taking harder assignments which meant more work overall. She wasn't exactly fond of that idea in the slightest...

On the other hand, if they lost they would keep doing easy missions but they would each owe something to the blond which would just make Ino more unbearable.

This was starting to give her a headache.

Shikari sighed and slowly sat up, "This is such a pain...", she rubbed the back of her neck and lazily glanced between her noisy teammate and her sensei.

Ino pumped her fist in victory and turned to Choji, "You're up first Choji you better give it all you've got or I will put you on a diet!" the platinum blond threatened.

Choji nodded along fearfully, nothing was scarier to an Akimichi than the word 'diet', it was probably the foulest word that clan could think of.

Asuma just shook his head at Ino's 'motivation', "Alright then Choji, get in there, you're teammates are counting on you so you better bring your best."

Naruto watched as the chubby boy made his way over to him stopping a few yards back and setting the stage for their spar.

Asuma laid down the rules, "This is just a friendly spar so I don't think I need to remind anyone to show a little restraint, you go until either I call the match or one of you surrenders is that clear?"

"Yes/Yes." The two said simultaneously.

"Alright then, begin!"

Naruto immediately went over everything he knew about how the Akimichi clan fought from his readings and having watched his classmate during the Academy matches.

Members of the Akimichi clan weren't known for their speed their large forms were just not built to move around the battlefield particularly quickly, rather they relied more on a defensive counter-based style that took advantage of their bulk and allowed them to punish anything that got within range with devastating power hits or grapples.

Speaking of range, that was arguably the greatest deception of the Akimichi, looking at them it would be easy to assume that staying out of their grasp would be a fairly simple affair, but that's where their clan techniques came in.

The Akimichi clan could expand almost any part of their body at will and even increase their overall size to massive proportions if need be, allowing them to cover great distances with ease and take opponents off guard.

He didn't know how proficient Choji was with his clan's techniques but he would have to stay on his toes until he had a feel for the boy's limits.

Sliding into his stance he watched as Choji grew tired of waiting and decided to make the first move and launching himself at the blond.

Naruto quickly noted that Choji, while nowhere near as fast as someone like Kira, was by no means slow as he watched with his eyes narrowed as the pudgy boy attempted to slam into him.

Keyword being _attempted_.

Waiting until his opponent was right in front of him he swiftly spun out of the way, using his superior agility to pivot himself just out of the Akimichi boy's grasp.

With his target suddenly no longer in sight, Choji found himself stumbling forward and was unprepared of a sudden strike to the back of his knee that sent him crashing hard into the ground with the force of his heavy frame and momentum.

Naruto hung back and watched the boy scramble back up. He noticed to his slight annoyance that he appeared relatively unharmed a little scuffed up mostly fine.

It appeared the rumors about the sturdiness of the clan weren't entirely exaggerated.

"Oww..." Choiji whined rubbing his cheeks before snapping back to reality and turning to face him once more.

"You asked for it Naruto!" he yelled out and Naruto could feel the sudden rise in chakra coming from his portly opponent.

_**"Multi-Size Technique!"**_

He watched as Choji's body rapidly expanded like a balloon his torso stretching outward making him almost completely spherical with just his arms, legs and head remaining somewhat consistent with his previous size.

He didn't have a lot of time to think on the change as Choji quickly went to work on his next move, retracting his remaining limbs and head into the mass of his body Naruto watched with equal parts fascination and worry as the ball began spinning, the ground beneath them rumbling as the force of the rotations were sent into the ground.

_**"Human Bullet Tank!"**_

So that's what Choji looked like when he got serious...

His time to think was cut short as the now furiously rotating mass shot towards his position at much greater speeds than he'd thought capable.

He couldn't dodge this, not with how wide Choji was, he was likely to still get clipped and crushed even if he hopped off to the side. He couldn't stop it either, nothing in his arsenal would likely be anything more than be a minor annoyance and would just waste what precious time he had to escape.

Clicking his teeth Naruto decided to try something, if he couldn't go around it and he couldn't go through it then he'd just have to go over it!

Crouching down and sending a burst of chakra through his legs Naruto leaped up the combined strength of his legs and the extra kick of his own chakra sending him rocketing upwards just in time as Choji barreled past.

Naruto watched from his new aerial position as the meat tank continued to roll on and noticed that it slowed down rapidly, almost to a halt before shifting position and slowly turning back to face him before revving up again.

So there was a flaw in the technique, in exchange for size, speed, and power Choji had to give up maneuverability. He was limited to very predictable movement patterns and had to stop to change directions before charging again.

He could work with that!

He began his descent just as Choji made his second charge hoping to catch the blond during his freefall.

Naruto was having none of that though.

Crossing his fingers the blond was temporarily engulfed in smoke that swiftly dissipated revealing another copy by his side, the clone quickly grabbed its creator pulled him out of the way sending him safely out of harm's way before dispelling.

Naruto landed with a short roll before rapidly running through another series of hand signs.

_**"Water Style: Great Boar Pit no Jutsu!" **_

The jutsu activated almost immediately, a sign of his mastery of the simple technique, and the ground turned into a familiar brown sludge.

Choji barreled right through the newly created mud pit beneath him unable to stop in time to avoid covering himself completely in the muck.

With all his sense now blocked by both his mass and the mud, Choji spun wildly out of control and with another burst of chakra released his own jutsu shrinking back down to his original size and crashing haphazardly into a nearby tree.

Choji tried to pick himself but the muck covering him made him sluggish and stung at his eyes the more he tried to clear them. He was stopped by the feeling of cool metal against his cheek and Naruto's voice behind him.

"I think this is my win Choji buddy."

Choji sighed and nodded, "I surrender..."

Naruto nodded and offered the boy a cloth to clean his face earning a grateful smile from his former opponent at the gesture.

"That was a really fun match, if you had been allowed to use your family techniques back in the academy I don't doubt you would have dominated in taijutsu spars!" Naruto praised his friend.

He meant it too, the only reason he won was that he just happened to have the right technique to counter Choji's fighting style and even then he didn't doubt that with a little more experience he would be a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

Asuma walked over to them and gave both boys a nod of respect for their performance, "You two did well," He turned to face his student, "However, you have a lot of room to improve if Naruto wasn't your classmate he likely would not have hesitated to attack you when he knocked you over the first time.

Choji bowed his head and nodded at the man's words, "I'm sorry Asuma-sensei I'll do better next time I swear."

Asuma chuckled and pat him on the back taking care to avoid any lingering mud, "Don't be sorry, this is why we practice. Learn from this experience and grow from it."

The jounin turned to face him next, "I do have advice for you but, I think I'll wait until our little wager is finished before I say anything, we want to keep things fair after all."

Naruto frowned a bit, this whole bet was rigged in his eyes but he had no plans of losing.

Asuma made his way back to his other two students, "So, which one of you two are up next?" he questioned.

Ino shot up promptly, cracking her knuckles as she swiftly made her way towards the center of the field.

Asuma spared a glance towards his remaining student before walking back to take his place between the two combatants.

The two blonds studied one another careful as they waited for Asuma's signal, taking in each other stances and looking for any openings that could be exploited or punished.

Naruto wasn't sure what to expect from the Yamanaka but at the same time, he wasn't particularly worried about her either. Unlike Choji, Ino was not from a clan of physical fighters and from what he'd seen in the Academy Ino was not a particularly dangerous opponent in close combat.

The Yamanaka clan specialized in support and information gathering, masters of the mind most of their techniques involved invading the innermost thoughts and secrets of their targets before bringing that information back to the village to gain an edge. Even at a young age Yamanaka children apparently display an aptitude for manipulation and high levels of empathy possibly a side effect of their close relation with human emotions and thinking.

With that knowledge, he was more concerned with her diving into his mind or any hidden supplemental techniques she might have. He already knew that a jutsu didn't have to be offensive to be dangerous.

While Naruto was going through his own thoughts Ino was making plans, she knew that in open combat she was weaker than both of her teammates, Choji was the muscle of their team and that hadn't helped him very much when fighting the other blond. She also openly admitted she wasn't as good a strategist as Shikari and her arsenal of techniques was not suited to an opponent like Naruto.

On paper she stood no chance and should Naruto blitz her from the start she would likely be overwhelmed without much trouble. There was also the matter of the two techniques he'd revealed in his fight with Choji, solid clones and a water release were both things they had not been taught meaning that there was a chance he knew other moves he had yet to reveal...

Was this what it was like to be helpless? She could hold him off but for how long? If he reached her she was near helpless, her mind transfer required a still target and she doubted Naruto would stay still long enough for it to land and if she missed her body would be helpless for more than enough time for him to pin her.

Ino grit her teeth in annoyance and steadied herself she already knew the outcome of this fight but she wouldn't give in easily.

Asuma looked between the two blonds briefly before giving the call, "Begin!"

Ino wasted no time and launched a hail of shuriken towards her opponent before drawing a kunai and charging in behind the steel stars.

Naruto narrowed his eyes and pulled out his own kunai and swiftly deflected the shuriken before locking up with Ino, blocking her blade with his own.

"You're serious about winning this eh, Ino?" he asked as they stood locked kunai to kunai testing the others strength. Naruto had the raw power advantage and was pushing Ino back but through chakra enhancement, Ino was able to slow the process slightly.

"You sound surprised Uzumaki, I'm not a slacker like my teammates and when this is over I'll be sure to stop by while you're still stuck catching stray cats!" Ino growled and with an unexpected pulse of her chakra actually managed to shove him back catching him off guard.

Ino capitalized on his surprise and lashed out with a series of kicks, slashes and open palm strikes putting Naruto on the defensive as they weaved around one another.

Some of Ino's attacks were landing but her opponent was unphased and simply tanked or blocked what he couldn't dodge, even her enhanced strength wasn't enough to push him to retreat. Worse yet, she was also taking some glancing hits and already she could tell that between the two of them Naruto was leagues ahead of her in physical power.

If she kept fighting at close range she wasn't going to last much longer.

She quickly spun on her heel and used her long hair as a makeshift whip to force her opponent back before lashing out with a solid kick that connected with his chest sending him sliding back a bit.

Naruto clutched at his chest and stared at Ino with surprise, he hadn't expected that sudden surge of strength at all. Perhaps underestimating her had been a mistake.

He would be sure to correct that.

"That was pretty good Ino I won't lie, you really got me good with that trick of yours." He said while recentering himself and making sure to keep his eyes on her. "I should have taken you seriously from the start."

He launched himself forward immediately invading Ino's space, his speed caught Ino off guard and she tried vainly to reestablish the distance she'd previously secured, slashing at him with the kunai still in her hand in an attempt to deter him.

He grabbed onto her wrist and squeezed down hard forcing her to drop her weapon with a yelp of pain, and leaving her more vulnerable. Pressing his advantage he shot his free fist into the girl's stomach causing her to double over, her body spasming lightly at the sudden blunt force.

He quickly swept Ino's legs out from under her and sent her crashing onto the ground.

It seemed, however, Ino had managed to recover just enough to roll away before he could pin her, she scrambled to her feet and leaped back to create some distance while still cradling her aching stomach.

Ino stood on wobbly legs taking in the calm form of her opponent, she knew that physically she was far behind him but the force of that punch had nearly knocked her out!

It didn't help that she had been using her chakra excessively throughout the entire fight to reinforce her body and up her strength just to not be completely overwhelmed and she was running low on energy to spare and weakening her further...

She was only still in the fight by his mercy, she had no doubt he could easily have caught up with her if he wanted, even now he was just watching and waiting.

She couldn't beat him, she was going to lose and there was nothing she could do about it!

Pulling out a handful of shuriken she fell back on her last gamble.

Launching them towards him and watching as he predictably deflected them once more, she rapidly ran through the hand signs of her clan's signature technique.

_**"Mind Body Switch no Jutsu!"**_

Naruto made a snap decision, while he didn't know how Ino's jutsu worked he could tell she was desperate meaning that technique had to have a drawback. Allowing two of the shuriken to graze him he dived out Ino's path.

While he couldn't see it the chakra impression of Ino cursed as her target rolled just out the way, the limits of her clan's jutsu reared its ugly head as she floated harmlessly by her target and off into the trees with him being none the wiser.

Naruto looked back up to see Ino's body slumped onto the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

_What kind of technique did that?_

Asuma chose this moment to intervene, "Don't worry about her kid, that's just her punishment for being stubborn she'll wake up in a few minutes but seeing as she's technically out cold I'd say it's your win again."

Naruto quickly went over to the unconscious girl and gently picked her up, he didn't think it was right to just leave her body on the field like a carcass or something.

Making his way over to a shaded part of the clearing he laid her down against a tree before walking back.

His classmate now secured he checked himself for wounds and other than a small cut on his arm and some scuffs he seemed to be in good condition if anything he was more shocked it was Ino out of all people that managed to land a good few hits on him.

Guess there was more to her than he'd thought.

Either way, he only had one last round to go and it was in without question going to be either the easiest or hardest of the three. Glancing over at the last remaining member of Team Ten he locked eyes with his final opponent, ocean blue meeting jet black.

Surprisingly Shikari stood without prompting and made her way to the field with no complaints standing across from him in her usual 'fighting stance', hands in her pockets and leaning her weight onto her right leg in an almost bored fashion.

Shikari was dangerous that much wasn't up for debate, she may lack raw striking power but her ability to plan was unrivaled and he had no doubt that she had been thinking of ways to beat him since the beginning.

He wondered if that's why they had fought in the order they did. Choji a test of his physical limits and abilities, Ino could test his resolve and had she managed to get into his head could suss out any weakness. Even if he had somehow beat her after that she could pass the information along and give Shikari the greatest chance of pulling out a victory.

_Had he been playing into their hands from the beginning?_

He was broken from his thoughts by his opponent's bored voice.

"Oi, blondie I have a question." She drawled out, "If you do win what would you use your favors for?"

"You're not thinking of throwing our fight are you?" It wouldn't surprise him if she did though it was just a Shika thing to do.

She shrugged, "Who knows, I'm just curious after all you're very close to winning so I thought I'd ask is all."

He rubbed the back of his head and thought about it...

What exactly could he ask them for, it's not like they could teach him anything and he wasn't the kind of guy who enjoyed humiliating others for no reason.

Though he was considering making Ino spend a whole day with Kira as punishment for dragging him into this mess. The elegant Yamanaka forced to rough it out with a 'savage beast' brought a small smile to his face.

"Don't really know, not really doing it for the favors anyway, what about you?"

Shikari snorted, "You think I can win?"

He nodded without hesitation, "I believe if you really wanted you could probably beat everyone in our class including me with enough information."

She shook her head, "That sounds way too troublesome for me..."

He laughed, "I know but that doesn't make it less true, a lack of desire doesn't mean a lack of ability. Now stop avoiding my question what would you use your favor for?"

Shikari adopted a thinking pose mulling it over before shrugging, "I don't really know either I'm still thinking it over though I have a few ideas."

Asuma cut in interrupting their conversation, "Alright enough chatter, you two can figure that out _after _we have a winner."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Sorry Asuma-sensei, hehe…"

Shikari sighed and muttered a few choice words under her breath but otherwise remained silent.

Asuma looked between them before officially starting the match, "Begin!"

The two combatants settled in all hints of playfulness swiftly replaced with calculated focus and once more the two stared each other down each waiting to see who would make the first move.

Naruto knew a lot more about the Nara clan in comparison to either the Akimichi or Yamanaka thanks in no small part due to his friendship with Amagi. He was well aware that similar to Ino, Shikari was not a frontline fighter but a support specialist based on the premise of her clan's techniques.

Amagi having demonstrated one of their clan's signature moves gave him a general idea of what to expect from the Shikari. He already knew that he would have to get creative and avoid shadows at all costs if he planned on securing victory.

Meanwhile, Shikari was running through everything she knew and calculating the odds of her own victory. So far her opponent had shown he had access to at least one elemental jutsu, some form of solid cloning, high-speed moment, and high levels of stamina. She already knew that taijutsu was out of the question and her ranged jutsu were limited in an open clearing like this.

Troublesome...

Naruto knew better than to let a Nara sit and think and he quickly rushed in, he had no direct plan unlike Choji he doubted Shikari possessed any really destructive techniques and he would be able to see her shadow with ease. His current plan was just to overwhelm her and wait for her to slip up,

Shikari clicked her teeth and weaved as best she could out the way of Naruto's attacks, the Nara style of taijutsu focused heavily on evasion coupled with her natural flexibility she was just able to bend and twist out his attacks with minimal damage taken.

She wasn't foolish enough to believe that she could outlast Naruto of all people though. Even with him on the offensive and having just fought both of her teammates already he was hardly winded.

It didn't help that he was setting the pace of their engagement either the faster he attacked the faster she had to react, if she slowed down she would be treated to the same treatment Ino had received.

She needed to reduce his advantages and increase her own.

As Naruto went for a strike to her face she put her plan into action, rather than blocking or ducking she bent herself backward allowing his fist to fly into the space her head and upper body had previously occupied.

Allowing herself to fall back she quickly braced her body with her left arm and propelled her body back in a flip, forcing him to back peddle or risk a foot to the face and allowing her to retreat and make a fair bit of space.

As she landed and launched herself backward once more sending herself to the edge of the clearing she then reached down and pulled out two kunai with paper tags on them and tossed them between her and her opponent.

Naruto eyes widened and he quickly shielded his face as the tags lit themselves glowing a bright orange.

_**BOOOOOM!**_

The sound of the explosion could be felt throughout the training yard and he could feel bits and pieces of debris pelting his body as the blast force rocked the training field sending a flash of heat outwards. After a few moments, the detonation appeared to have died down and quickly taking a look at the field he saw the once flat terrain now had various chunks of rock and earth scattered about and uprooted.

He cursed to himself as Shikari's goal made itself immediately clear, all around him were shadows of various lengths and sizes being cast by the scattered bits of landscape.

She had turned their battlefield into a spiders web.

The remaining smoke cleared to reveal a smirking Shikari surveying her handiwork.

"I probably should have thrown another tag in there but oh well." She shrugged.

Naruto grit his teeth but remained undeterred, she wasn't the only one who could use shadows!

Crossing his fingers he quickly summoned his chakra and flooded his technique.

_**"Multi-Shadow Clone no Jutsu!"**_

A large burst of smoke filled the field that set Shikari on edge, it didn't take a genius to figure out just what was about to happen.

The smoke cleared revealing ten copies of the blond standing at attention glaring across the field at her.

Their fight was now a race, who would slip up? Shikari owned the battlefield but Naruto had the numbers it all came down to who could catch the other first.

"_**CHARGE!**_" The clones shouted running through the field at every possible angle to reach the Nara heiress before she could catch them.

_**"Shadow Possession Jutsu!"**_ Shikari cried and her shadow swiftly stretched out and connected with the network of shadows she'd created. The field came alive as the small army of clones found themselves being frozen one by one with every step they took.

Shikari felt the sweat running down her brow as she weaved her own shadow been them, on her own, she could only capture and hold at max five people, with the help of the casted shadows she could bump that up to nine if she didn't move. A tradeoff she couldn't afford to make right now.

That left two remaining rushing right at her.

Reaching into her kunai holster she quickly tossed two of her throwing knives with pinpoint accuracy, they struck home sinking into the copies with no resistance and sending them away with twin puffs of smoke. She made sure to keep a mental note that clones weren't very sturdy.

Shikari took heavy breaths the toll of holding the other eight blonds was rapidly wearing on her reserves their struggling increasing the amount of energy it took to keep them restrained.

"Submit." She growled out looking between the blonds trying to spot the original among them, refusing to allow her concentration to slip for a moment. She couldn't force him to give up she had no leverage against him, he could just wait her out and win she needed to make him believe she could finish him off and so tried to suppress the exhaustion in her voice.

The crowd of Naruto's were silent before the one closest to her spoke.

"We surrender..."

Shikari let out a sigh of relief, finally, it was over she didn't think she could hold them for any longer than maybe another thirty seconds.

The blond wasn't finished, however, "But we can't speak for the boss." he finished.

She felt a pit form in her stomach as she registered his words and her eyes darted rapidly between the group of captive copies, she was sure he'd made nine clones with himself making up the tenth. She had dispelled two leaving the eight she was holding.

_If he wasn't there then where was he?..._

Her though screeched to a halt when she felt the sensation of cold steel resting gently against her neck, she didn't even need to look and see who it was, the pieces all clicking into place.

"When did you separate yourself from them?" She asked quietly canceling her technique allowing her shadow to retract and watching as the clones went up in small puffs of smoke once they had regained mobility.

Naruto chuckled, "When I summoned them I used the smokescreen to rush into the treeline and made my around the back while you dealt with the clones. I let you think I had mixed myself in the bunch and allowed them to keep your attention." He explained.

She nodded to herself being careful of the blade at her neck, she had been so caught up in what she could see she hadn't anticipated what she wasn't seeing.

It explained why they had been so easy to catch as well, they weren't trying to beat her they were just the distraction and now even with him right behind her she didn't have the chakra necessary to hold him for longer than a few moments.

She had been outplayed and she wasn't sure how she felt about that.

She couldn't help but laugh, "How come you aren't this good when we play shogi?"

Naruto rolled his eyes, "You say that like you don't beat everyone in shogi."

"Excuses, also you're clones are total bullshit I hope you know that." She stated unapologetically using him as a support to hold herself up the fatigue of pushing her limits hitting her hard as the adrenalin in her system faded away.

"Ino can invade people's minds and Choji can become the size of a small house but clones are where you draw the line?!"

You beat both of them so clearly you're the broken one here." she replied ignoring his pouting.

"I could make you walk on your own you know." he huffed.

Shika pushed against him lightly, "You'd leave me here but you'll carry Ino back? Sounds like someone might have a favorite."

Naruto snorted and pushed her back though he took care not to knock her over, "Ino? You can't be serious?"

"I don't know you looked pretty concerned about her, trade your outfit in for some armor and you could pass for an honorable samurai, it would fit." she chuckled, "The brave blue-eyed samurai carrying the blond haired princess off the battlefield paints a pretty picture." she snarked.

"Huh, I could see that though what if the princess had black hair instead…" he pondered and she could see the mischievous glint in his eyes that always appeared when he was about to do something that would annoy her.

"I will actually stab you." She threatened.

"It'll be fun though!" He laughed at the venomous glare she was sending him.

"Naruto I swear to Kami don't you even think about i-" she didn't get to finish her thought as she swiftly found herself swept off her feet and held up in a traditional bridal carry.

Shikari yelped and instinctually wrapped her arms around his neck trying to balance herself at the sudden loss of balance before realizing what she'd just done, her cheeks burning from embarrassment and anger.

She could hear her tormentor snickering under his breath and she could have sworn she heard Asuma let out a choked cough to hide his own laughter.

"...Naruto I'm going to hurt you if you don't put me down right now." She said calmly

Naruto started to sweat slightly, there was no inflection in her voice and normally that wouldn't be surprising, but the way she was looking at him promised nothing but pain in his future.

Maybe this hadn't been the smartest plan in hindsight…

"Are you saying you won't hurt me if I do put you down?" He asked.

"Take a guess." She growled out.

"Well, if you're going to be violent I might as well keep you like this then." He answered simply, he was already screwed might as well go all the way.

"I hate you I want you to know that. I hate you and I will make you suffer." She promised.

"Love you too Shika-chan!" He replied cheerfully as he carried her back towards the rest of team falling into step next to a grinning Asuma who glanced down at the flushed face of his normally stoic charge.

_Oh, how he wished he had a camera right now!_

The trio made their way over to the resting but no less amused Choji, who could only shake his head and chuckle at the scene and the slowly stirring body of Ino who had apparently finally recovered enough to return to her own body.

Naruto quickly set Shikari down, not wanting Ino to catch sight of the two, Kami only knows what Shika would do to him if Ino started spreading rumors.

He shivered at the thought...

Ino's eyes fluttered open, and she slowly sat up taking in the rest of her team and Naruto sitting around her.

_How long had she been out? Had they won?_

Asuma as if sensing both of her questions quickly filled in the blanks, "You've been out for about fifteen minutes and you guys lost the bet, Uzumaki here managed to beat you all." He said holding nothing back.

Ino couldn't even muster the energy to frown, right now her body hurt and she felt like she'd just run a marathon. She just shot a tired look over at her teammate and the blond, before closing her eyes again and nodding.

Asuma looked over his team before speaking, "Despite your loss, I am proud of all of you. You three are used to fighting together and had I let you all team up against Uzumaki I don't doubt you would have won fairly easily."

Naruto nodded in agreement, he didn't think he could have handled all three of them by himself, hell he wasn't even sure if his team could have stopped them their individual skills complemented each other so well he doubted raw firepower would be much of an issue for them.

"However, outside these walls, you won't always have your team to fall back on and you all saw how you measure up individually." He paused to let the information sink in, "Ino you left your body undefended for almost twenty minutes rather than surrender or flee from a clearly superior opponent. You'd have been captured or worse if you were up against an actual enemy."

He didn't want to be harsh but he needed to make sure they understood just what they had signed up for and the realities of just what kind of people existed outside of Konoha's walls.

Ino flinched but offered no rebuttal, she could have given up but her pride had gotten the better of her...

"Choji we already spoke, but we need to work on making you less predictable I could tell Uzumaki figured out the weakness of your technique with just a glance. After that, you had no chance and you were lucky this was just a spar."

Choji bowed his head but accepted the criticism replaying the match in his mind he could have gone with different techniques but he instead had tried to brute force victory and ended up being played.

Asuma's gaze landed on the resting form of Shikari, "Of the three you did the best, your opponent was unorthodox and to be frank and you did what you could with the information you had. That said you'll never know what your opponent is fully capable of and you should never take anything they do at face value."

Shikari sighed but offered a small nod she had lost due to a simple miscalculation but that was all it took to end up killed.

"Last up, Uzumaki." Naruto sat up a bit, "I admit you surprised me, you are much more well rounded than most genin and you know how to get the most out of your jutsu. My advice to you, however, is to be more aggressive you could easily have taken Ino out with little trouble and with your clones you could have overwhelmed Shikari at the start, instead you allowed them to execute their plans without interference."

Naruto couldn't fault that, while he had wanted to learn more about how they fought he didn't have to be so passive in his approach.

"I know these were just spars so I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt but remember you shouldn't hesitate to put an enemy down when you can. The longer you leave them standing the more damage they could potentially do to you or your teammates."

Seeing the understanding on the boys face Asuma stood up and dusted himself off, "I think it's safe to call in early today, you three aren't in any shape to take missions so we'll carry on tomorrow."

Naruto stood up as well and bowed slightly, "Thank you Asuma-sensei for letting me participate in your team's training."

Asuma shook his head and smiled, "It was good to have you, feel free to drop in from time to time when you have the chance I'm sure my team would like to have another go at you later."

"We'll get you next time Naruto don't think you'll catch us off guard again." Ino spoke sitting up having recovered a bit of her strength, though she did have to lean against Choji to keep herself upright.

"Looking forward to it Ino-chan!" He replied with a grin.

Ino huffed and turned her head to hide the small smirk on her face, she wouldn't dare give him the satisfaction of seeing it, he was a big enough pain as is.

Choji spoke up next, "Have you decided are you going to use your favors on yet since you won the bet?" he asked reminding Team Ten they now each owed the blond something as per their agreement.

Naruto shrugged, "I don't really need anything so I guess I'll just hold onto them for now."

Ino glared at him, "You better not make any weird requests Naruto."

Naruto glared right back, "Hey! What kinda person do you take me for?!"

Shikari yawned and offered her two cents, "To be fair you were pretty quick to grab her body while was unconscious..." She conveniently left out her own experience, Ino didn't need to know about that if she could help it.

_**"YOU DID WHAT?!/SHIKA-CHAN WHY?!"**_

Shikari and Asuma watched as Ino apparently caught her second win and began chasing her fellow blond around the training field shouting threats and curses, Choji followed right behind them attempting to keep her from maiming their classmate if possible.

Asuma took a moment to look down at his last student, "That was rather cruel of you eh, Shika?

She grunted, "He'll be fine and it serves him right for being so troublesome."

"You say that but I swore it looked like you were enjoying yourself a little bit at the end there."

Shikari clicked her teeth and began following after her team, "Clearly you're imagining things." falling back into her standard bored tone.

Asuma stood back for a bit in silence before shaking his head and making his way towards the distant sounds of shouting.

This generation was definitely interesting that's for sure.

* * *

**Chapter Complete!**

**Another longer chapter, I'm worried this going to start becoming a habit (I know you guys like longer chapters but they are hard to write! lol)**

**Firstly why did I not follow Team 7 around this chapter but instead focus on Team 10 and presumably Team 8?**

**Well with the Wave Arc coming up, (the chapter after the next one), Team 7 will have plenty of time to develop so I decided rather than just jump into that it would be good to flesh out the other teams somewhat before the Chunin exams where there will be so much going on that I'd struggle to really build characters not vital to that Arc. **

**This also allows people to get an idea for how I'll be handling different interactions between different teams since I do plan for the groups to interact from time to time.**

**Why Team 10?**

**Team 10 has two characters that I needed to flesh out more, Ino and Shikari. Ino, as I said with Sakura, was pretty much completely ignored in my writing and I wanted to correct that and show off she's her own individual character. At the same time I'm not here to bash her and so I took a mix of her traits to create what I think is a more driven version of Ino. She's the heiress to a clan so I wanted her not to be useless but also acknowledge that she isn't the strongest character either.**

**Shikari was also important to get done since seeing as she is pretty much guaranteed to be part of the harem I wanted to build on her more since we only saw her in the academy, but their relationship hasn't really been explored. This was a good chance to not only build on her but create the hints that she'll eventually become involved with Naruto at some point.**

**Shikari's characterization?**

**I actually struggled with this since I wasn't sure how to write her in a romantic way. Shikamaru's romance isn't really super fleshed out so I don't have as much to base it off of, I decided to go with a more playful take on her feelings. She's not a tsundere and she won't be (it doesn't really fit) but I wanted to create a semi-real response that hints there may be some feelings there without turning her into a blushing mess or something. This will be explored more in-depth later though but I think this works for now.**

**You ignored Choji.**

**I had two arguably more important characters to setup and adding him to that list would have made the chapter take way longer and I'm already behind. I will do things with him as well but he's not a focus.**

**The fights are kinda short and why were Shikari and Ino so drained after their fights.**

**We are in early Naruto, no one knows enough to turn these fights into long drawn out affairs as we progress and characters arsenal of moves grow we'll see the larger scale and more drawn out fights. **

**As for why Ino and Shikari were more tired simple, Chakra exhaustion. Neither of them are known for having particularly large reserves and I wanted to make clear how that could play into fights. Think of it like a computer slowing down as the power drains.**

**Alright with those out of the way let's talk other important stuff!**

**Romance and how will I be handling it?**

**I have a lot to consider here and that is a big part of why I want to address it now rather than later. I have to find a balance between the pacing of this story while still making love feel believable, naturally, that extends the overall length of the story because there is no way to make affection feel real without exploring it during moments of downtime and little bits of silly romantic moments here and there. As much as I've seen the idea of love blossoming on the battlefield, it still has to be nurtured off of it.**

**Of course, I have heard concerns about making it a harem story and I want to create some compromise between people who don't want a super fanservice heavy story with those who do want some of that (I've gotten PM's on both sides of the spectrum to be clear). **

**In creating unique and lesser seen pairing I understand why some might really want little fluffy/silly moments in the story to fully explore what people might feel is a really neglected pair or setup. Anything that takes itself too seriously also always runs the risk of becoming comedic in just how serious it tries to be so I do see the need for moments of levity to make the world feel real just as much as the dangers.**

**I've read stories that do this and while they are gripping for a bit I get tired of them and eventually end up putting them on hold, I prefer balance.**

**At the same time, I do understand the people also want a story where things feel real and that the overall strengths of the narrative are not placed second to fanservice and 'quirky' comedic moments.**

**As it stands now I want to try and offer something to both sides, maybe not in equal measure sure but bits and pieces that both can appreciate. I want to remind everyone that, to my unending gratitude, quite a few of you read this story and in turn, I wish to try and create something that you can walk away feeling satisfied with. That is NOT me saying I am trying to please everyone (it's near impossible to do so) but that I want to offer bits and pieces to both sides where I can.**

**Now onto the updated harem list starting with the pretty much confirmed:**

**Hinata**

**Kira**

**Shikari **

**Now onto the maybe pile:**

**Satsuki: I know it's weird to have a female Sasuke fic that doesn't pair her with Naruto but with the events of canon, I could easily still see them not together so I'll have to think about it. I've laid some small foundations if I decide to go that way but you never know.**

**Sakura: People have asked to have her with him. Like I said I'm not a massive fan of her but I could easily fix my problems with her so she's not out completely. Again I've begun laying the foundations for her to starting thinking more positively and with my plans, she could turn around.**

**Into the super unlikely and you need to provide a reason if you really want this:**

**Ino (updated): I did get a request for Ino and the reasoning wasn't too bad so I'll leave it up to you guys if you want her, let me know if not then she'll stay a side character**

**Amagi (updated): I did get a reason for this pairing and while I could see it I would have to hear from more people before pulling the trigger on this.**

**Anko, she was only introduced because she was fitting for what I needed but knowing that she's appeared likely makes some people curious if she's an option. **

**NEW (suggested):**

**Karui (Kumo): This one actually caught me off guard since I don't see it and being so early in I didn't expect anyone to choose her being totally honest so leave your feedback on this one as well if you want it. **

**Note: You can suggest genderbent characters if you wish since I've changed a few I don't see why you can't make requests. However, if you do suggest a genderbent characters it has to make sense and not break the story. I do want to keep these limited though as to not break my story or change events too heavily**

**Example don't ask me to add Fem. Orochimaru there are like 100 problems in trying something like that.**

**With that said I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and I'll see you next time with Team 8!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I own nothing with that said please enjoy the chapter!**

**AN. This chapter is a way later than I anticipated and I will talk about that at the end as I assume most of you want to just dive on into the reading. I hope this chapter turned out okay since I was just dealing with things in my life and to be honest, I have no real clue if this is any good and if it is not I'm sorry about that. The last chapter apparently turned out okay so I'll hope this one isn't worth lighting my PMs or review section on fire for lol.**

* * *

Three days had passed since his impromptu training session with Team Ten, he'd decided to postpone visiting Team Eight for a bit and instead chose to take some extra time to go over everything he'd learned from their session. The experience had helped him restructure his training taking bits and pieces from his individual matches to fix holes in his fighting style and add to his list of battle tactics.

He had specifically chosen to work with and further develop his shadow clones seeing as they were currently the most versatile technique in his arsenal. Additionally, his use of the technique had increased lately and he planned on fully exploring the jutsu's limits and seeing just how far he could push them.

He had begun by playing around with simply infusing various amounts of chakra in his clones from minuscule drops to near bucket loads and through his testing had stumbled onto some very useful bits of information.

The first thing he'd discovered was that clones created with smaller amounts of chakra made for much better cannon fodder or henge tricks. Their smaller reserves made them less durable being dispelled by even a glancing blow but in turn, they were harder to detect since their presence was less noticeable with his own chakra smothering them. This advantage was balanced out by the fact these clones were incapable of casting any higher level techniques, they just didn't have the energy to sustain themselves using anything more taxing than the basic Academy three.

He filed them under the class of lesser clones.

Clones created with more chakra were a little more durable needing a strong hit to be popped and made for good collaboration partners since they had access to his higher level jutsu like the water bullet technique. These clones would become more useful the larger his repertoire of jutsu became, they could also perform the clone technique themselves but could only create lesser clones.

He dubbed these one's greater clones and found them to be the most useful for day to day tasks.

The last test he'd tried had been the riskiest and it involved him forcing nearly all of his chakra into one single clone. His theory had been if greater clones had higher durability because of an increased chakra pool then a single clone made up of an even larger amount chakra should be able to handle substantially more damage.

That hadn't turned out to be exactly true.

The clone hadn't proved to be much more durable than a greater clone by much, it still only took one solid hit to dispel which had been rather disappointing. However, he had found another use for this type of shadow clone.

_Decoys_.

Naruto had remembered Kakashi mentioning offhand that he practically radiated chakra which made him an easy target for sensor nin or more experienced ninja who had experience feeling ambient chakra. Even when scattered among his clones he would always maintain a slightly higher amount than they did since they were only formed using the amount required to sustain themselves while he would always have access to his total reserves.

This is what made sensor ninja so valuable, it didn't matter what technique you used since they could feel every individual source of chakra in an area anyway which made hiding near impossible.

This clone would help when he needed to escape powerful enemies or sensors, by transferring a majority of his chakra to one clone he lowered his own reserves enough to hide from sensors who would be searching for the largest source of chakra possible.

It had its drawbacks though, he was left very weakened when he made one and if he was discovered he would be at a heavy disadvantage so he quickly marked Decoy Clones as last resort use only in combat situations.

Decoy clones did have all the benefits of greater clones thought and with access to most of his reserves could actually create both types with no problem.

Looking at the results some might argue it would be better to just use greater clones all the time, his reserves could handle the stress with little issue. However, having seen Shikari and Ino's state at the end of their spars he concluded that just because he had the energy to waste didn't mean he actually had to waste it.

The less energy he exerted the more he had to use which would prove helpful against opponents who couldn't match his reserves or relied on prolonging fights. In theory, the greater he became at chakra management the more dangerous he would become.

He also didn't want to use clones as a crutch, if he became too reliant on them his other skills might start to suffer and enemies would begin looking for counters, hell he had no doubt Shikari had started looking into ways to get around his clones for the next spar.

That wasn't to say he was above using the tools he had but he didn't plan on solving everything with clones if he didn't have to.

He also made a mental note to stop by the library again after visiting Team Eight.

Speaking of which it was almost time for him to head out and try and catch them, quickly downing the rest of his breakfast he dashed out of the house and made his way over to the training fields.

* * *

_***Training Field Eight***_

Naruto immediately noticed Team Eight's training field was a much more wild looking training yard than Team Ten's, being mostly untamed woodlands there was a tiny clearing in the center surrounded by dense forest, it actually looked like a more overgrown version of his own teams training grounds only missing the small lake that made up the eastern half of the field.

Like with his entrance into Team Ten's space he kept his guard up and made no attempt to mask his presence as he wandered closer and closer to the center of the clearing.

He didn't see any signs of Team Eight, maybe they were out on a mission or had been granted time off as well?

"Hello, Naruto-san."

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin as a voice suddenly spoke out from behind him, spinning on his heel he breathed a sigh of relief before his face settled into a scowl.

"Shino how many times have people told you not to do that damn it!" He growled at the ever stoic Aburame. Shino possessed the annoying talent of being unnaturally stealthy, something he made great use of to scare the life out of people.

Shino swore it was not intentional but he didn't believe that for a second.

"Including this moment I believe twenty-five times, however, I fail to understand why your lack of awareness requires me to change my behavior..." Shino replied in his usual monotone.

Naruto had to take a moment to remind himself that the cons of attacking a fellow shinobi would far outway any enjoyment he got out of strangling Shino.

Maybe he could convince the Hokage to pardon him?

"I'm not going to justify that with a response." He wasn't going to give Shino the satisfaction of getting under his skin, "Where is the rest of your team?"

"Kurenai-sensei and my fellow teammates should be arriving shortly we were having a group breakfast to promote comradery according to sensei, I finished a bit earlier and requested to take a walk back while they finished their meals."

Naruto balked at that, they had group breakfasts? He couldn't even convince Sakura and Satsuki to have lunch with him not to mention Kakashi's habit of arriving late to every meeting!

It was now official his team sucked...

Before he could lament too much on the dysfunctional state of his own squad the blond had the wind knocked out of him by a small object slamming into his chest, knocking him over.

"Why…" He wheezed out shaking the stars from his eyes he was greeted to the sight of a small white puppy with brown ears bouncing excitedly on his chest.

"Akamaru?"

"Arf!" The small pup yipped in affirmative before offering the blond boy a few licks in greeting.

"Oi! Calm down your breath smells like pancakes...wait they fed you pancakes?!" Even a dog was getting better treatment than he was.

"Akamaru! Why did you bolt off?!" A familiar gruff but distinctly feminine voice shouted out from the entrance of the training yard.

"Eh? Whiskers why are you here?" The hooded form of Kira made her way into view looking down at him in a mixture of confusion and amusement as she watched her partner use her friend like a doggy bed.

"I'm starting to ask myself that same question..." He deadpanned sitting back up and placing Akamaru in his lap.

"Do you not have training today?" She asked.

He shook his head, "Kakashi-sensei is on a mission at the moment so we have the week off but apparently, he got us permission to sit in and watch the other squads so I decided to stop by."

Kira nodded, "Sounds cool... is it just you? I didn't see Sakura or our resident emo on the way over here."

He sighed and gave Akamaru a gentle scratch earning a content growl from the pup, "We don't really hang out so I don't know where either of them are at the moment."

Kira shook her head, "Figures, those two would probably rather sit and watch paint dry than go anywhere with you."

"Hey! We've gotten a little better..." He felt the need to defend his teammates a little bit and it wasn't like he was lying exactly they were better now, they just needed some more time...

At least he hoped so anyway.

She snorted and sat herself down in the grass next to him, "Whatever you say whiskers but I still won't believe it until I see it myself."

Their discussion was interrupted by the final members of Team Eight making their way into the clearing.

Hinata had a look of surprise on her face that morphed into a bright smile at the sight of her best friend, while the taller crimson-eyed woman next to her quietly inspected their guest taking mental notes to herself as they approached.

The older female decided to address him first, "Excuse me, but would I be correct in assuming you are Naruto Uzumaki?" she asked simply.

Naruto nodded and tilted his head, "Yes I am...how did you know that though and who are you?"

"My name is Kurenai Yuhi, leader of Team Eight and to answer your question Asuma told me about you and your meet up with his team. He also said that you would likely make your way over here at some point and to expect you." She explained.

Asuma had actually flat out told her the boy would be coming so she wasn't taken too off guard at seeing him. She was more surprised at how relaxed her team was with the blond, perhaps they had been close in the Academy?

Naruto laughed sheepishly, "Asuma-sensei mentioned that?"

"He said you really kicked his team into gear, I could tell you impressed him since he's not one to give out praise lightly." She admitted.

"Wait a minute are you saying you actually fought with them? " Kira questioned.

"Yeah, they actually put up a pretty good fight but I won in the end." He answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Why didn't you invite me?!" She whined, "I demand a match right now!" Kira barked jumping to her feet.

Hinata sighed and rubbed her temples, "Can't you behave for once in your life?"

Kira just stuck her tongue out at the Hyuga heiress in response.

Kurenai shook her head at the odd dynamic between her two students, "Kira you shouldn't go around looking for fights it'll come back to bite you if you aren't careful." She lightly admonished.

The Inuzuka deflated a bit at her instructor's words but grudgingly nodded and sat back down and grumbled quietly to herself.

Kurenai turned to look back at her temporary addition, "You are welcome to stay and observe if you wish." She paused for a moment before continuing, "However, if you're up to it I'd like to propose a similar deal to the one you made with Asuma's squad."

"Eh? You want me to spar with your team too?" he asked.

She shook her head, "Not exactly... while I'm sure the experience would prove insightful I have something different in mind that I believe will prove more beneficial to all parties."

Kurenai gestured to her team, "All I want is for you to play a game of tag with my students."

"Tag?" He asked

Hinata politely interjected to explain, "Tag is the name of an exercise sensei has us perform to train our tracking skills, it works on the same principle as the children's game but instead of just tagging the target we have to disable and capture them."

Naruto nodded along at her explanation, that made sense seeing as Hinata, Kira, and Shino were built to be a tracking team with Hinata's byakugan for long-range scouting, Kira's enhanced senses for traditional tracking, and Shino's insects to mark targets or gather information. All three combined would make almost guarantee success against all but the most clever or experienced opponents.

He was however at a major disadvantage though since unlike with Asuma's team he couldn't just brute force his way past their sensory abilities.

"Isn't that sort of unfair on me? I doubt the three of them will have much trouble finding me together?" He said frowning slightly, he wasn't about to take a suckers bet and he sure wasn't cocky enough to think he could escape all of them.

At least not without some time to prepare himself anyway.

"They will not be working together for this exercise to make it fairer on you." She answered having long since thought this out after hearing from her fellow jounin.

"What's to stop them from working together to find me and just letting one of them take credit for the capture?" He pushed back.

Kurenai offered a disarming smile and replied, "Similar to your wager with Asuma's team there would be a reward of favors, however, in the name of competition only the person who manages to capture you will earn a favor if none of them catch you then all three will owe you something." She explained.

Naruto silently weighed her proposal, he actually had the most to gain and honestly the least to lose now and the experience would definitely improve his own stealth abilities, combat in the shinobi world was supposed to be a last resort and hiding was integral to a ninja skill set. He also wasn't opposed to this exchange of favors either, heck it made sense seeing as ninja sold their services in exchange for money, territory or political advantages anyway.

"Alright, If your team accepts then I'll take your challenge." He answered,

Kurenai looked to her team for their answer she wanted to give them the choice, seeing as it was their training.

Shino gave a slight nod of consent, "I see no reason not to participate." Their blond classmate had proved rather crafty and highly capable in the Academy and as such would likely be a solid metric to gauge his own abilities against. Additionally owning a free favor from a potentially influential figure would prove beneficial in the future.

Kira gave her usual toothy grin and pumped her fist into the air, "I don't think I could pass up the chance to hunt down Whiskers so count me in!" It wasn't the fight she had wanted but this was a pretty close second, plus when she won she could make him do whatever she wanted!

Hinata offered a gentle smile and nodded as well, "I see no harm in it so I agree." There wasn't really much at stake for her, if she lost she trusted her friend and wasn't particularly worried about owing him. If she won on the other hand...

Well, she had quite a few ideas on how to spend her reward.

Kurenai nodded, "Since you all are in agreement I will lay out the rules for this game, firstly in order for one of you to win you must capture or disable Naruto for at least thirty seconds." She said while looking towards her team before turning to face her new addition, "Naruto for you to win you must manage to evade capture for at least one hour."

Easier said than done but he wasn't backing down and the thirty-second grace period gave him some space to work with at least if he did slip up.

"Secondly, all of you must remain within the bounds of the training field the grounds are more than large enough that you shouldn't need to go any further." She continued.

"Lastly, you four can run interference on one another but I expect you to keep it reasonable this is still just a training exercise and you're all comrades." She finished and gave each of them a look that said if they broke this last rule there would be consequences.

"Naruto you get a five-minute head start to run and prepare, I suggest you make the most of it if you want to last the hour." Kurenai spoke gesturing to the trees behind them.

He didn't need to be told twice, he gently removed Akamaru from his lap and swiftly bolted into the dense forest determined to create as much distance as possible.

Naruto knew he needed some kind of plan, running alone wouldn't save him and neither would just hiding in some random bush for an hour, no he needed to counter their inbuilt advantages somehow...

The biggest threat was without question Hinata, not only could he not outrun her eyes he also couldn't really hide from them either. She could literally see his chakra which made her the largest problem she also had the best gauge of his abilities and understanding of his tactics having known him for so long.

Without knowing the exact distance Hinata could see with her byakugan he had to assume in the worst case scenario that he was always within her sight.

Shino and Kira were actually tied in regards to their odds of finding him, he knew the Aburame clan had a special bond with all manner of insects alongside their native kikaichū and could to an extent even understand them. If Shino proved capable of communing with the local insect life he would effectively have a massive spy network to track him down.

Meanwhile, Kira on paper had the weakest tracking ability of the three as she couldn't see chakra like Hinata and didn't have insects to scout for her like Shino but instead had to rely on her canine-like senses. However, he wasn't sure how strong her abilities in that regard were and it was possible that she would actually have very little trouble finding him.

Even if the three of them weren't working together evading all of them was going to prove more challenging than he initially thought but he had some tricks up his sleeves.

If they thought catching him was going to be easy they were in for a rude awakening!

* * *

_***Five Minutes Later with Team Eight***_

"It's been five minutes his headstart is now over, you three already know the rules so do your best." Kurenai encouraged her students before turning them loose.

Immeadly the three took off into the woodlands in the direction they'd watch their blond target run off each determined to be the one to bring him down. Of course, they separated as soon as they entered the forest in respect of the rules and to avoid giving each other any hints or leads.

The only question was who would catch Naruto first?

Shino slowed his pace as he wandered through the dense row of trees considering his energy as he looked for any visual signs of his target and formulate a plan to capture. Shino was confident in his ability to locate the blond but capturing him would likely prove rather difficult.

The Aburame clan's fighting style revolved around slowly draining their opponent's chakra with their kikaichū until they couldn't fight back and in turn capture missions were their specialty.

Naruto, however, posed a problem to his clan's methods because he simply had too much chakra.

Shino knew that while yes he theoretically could drain Naruto's reserves low enough to make capturing him a simple affair it would require the work of almost his entire hive to do it quickly enough to be of use. Between the two of them, the blond was a better hand to hand combatant and he didn't know what techniques his classmate may have learned since they'd last seen each other.

He also didn't like the idea of bringing out almost his entire hive, that was simply too risky even for a training exercise.

His best chance would be to locate Naruto and shadow him while slowly draining his reserves while Naruto avoided his teammates then ambushing him while he was weakened.

It would be risky and he would be indirectly aiding his competition but it was the only path he could see that offered the greatest chance of success

Shino lifted his arms and slowly a small swarm of kikaichū flew out of the shadowed sleeves of his coat, the hoard buzzed and chattered before him awaiting their master's instructions.

"Scatter." he waved his arm, he didn't need to verbally command them the mental link between him and the hive queen allowed for an instinctual understanding between him and his hive.

The swarm swiftly responded to his command, dispersing into tendrils of blackness and weaving their way through the forest further dividing themselves in search of their master's quarry.

Shino stood and waited for a few minutes before he felt a soft pinging sensation indicating his scouts had found something. Ordering a recall of his remaining hive he quickly began the trek to the location but kept a low profile to avoid detection.

"You won't escape Naruto-san…"

Hinata took a moment to rest feeling she had made enough distance from her team to prevent any unwanted espionage though she kept a lookout for suspicious movement in the trees or in her peripherals.

Hinata was well aware she held the greatest advantage in the competition, her Byakugan would make the surrounding foliage useless and Naruto's distinctly massive chakra signature turned him into a literal shining beacon.

She also had the best chance of disabling him her ability to shut down his chakra flow would prevent him from casting any techniques and they were about even in taijutsu which gave her a much greater chance at victory.

Her one concern was she knew he was aware of all of her advantages which meant one of two things. Either he was winging it which, to be honest, wouldn't surprise her or he would be planning something specific to catch her off guard.

**"Byakugan!" **

Immediately her world view shifted the vibrant greens of the forest fading into shades of white and black signaling the dojutsu's activation. Hinata's field of view instantly widened giving her a clear three hundred and sixty degrees picture of the surrounding landscape. Her maximum range capped at about fifty or so meters which was nowhere near as far as some of the elders could see but would she would have to make due.

Pushing her sight outwards she spotted Shino and detected a few of what she assumed to be his insect swarms patrolling the area a few yards West of her. She could also faintly detect Kira on the fringes of her vision to her East though she couldn't get a good read on her position from that far out.

More importantly, she could see the telltale glow of Naruto's chakra making its way away from them speeding off further into the forest.

She wouldn't let him get away!

Kira sat quietly in the shadow of one of the many towering trees, her eyes closed and her breathing slow as the sounds of the forest echoed around her.

To those that were familiar with her, this unusual stillness would appear out of character a far cry from her boisterous and generally loud personality but to an Inuzuka, Kira was displaying the greatest virtues of a hunter.

_Patience and Discipline._

The Inuzuka clan prided themselves on a few things such as their loyalty, their will to fight, and of course, their tracking ability. Their clan's connections with canines demanded every Inuzuka have an understanding of the fundamental behavior and skills of their ninken.

This manifested itself by turning them into some of the best trackers in the village and Kira intended to follow suit.

She let out another deep breath slowly drawing upon her chakra and spreading it throughout her body and gradually the world around her seemed to swell with life.

Her hearing grew shaper, the previously silent forest came alive with the sounds of birds and critters that made their homes in the canopy of the trees the patter of small footsteps beat against her ears like tiny drums.

The soothing earthy smell of the forest floor and fallen leaves invaded her senses enveloping her like a blanket, the could almost taste the moisture in the air from a recent storm that still lingered in the darkest nooks and crannies of the sprawling woodlands.

She opened her eyes revealing her normally slightly rounded slit pupils had thinned out, accentuating her already wild appearance further.

She could sniff her teammates out easily, their time spent together had burned their individual scents into her brain. Hinata smelled like lavender and had a faint whiff of cinnamon hidden further down, while Shino smelled like freshly grown grass not surprising given his penchant for sifting through the earth looking for new insects.

She could also detect a foreign scent mixed into the natural odor of the woodlands and she was willing to bet money that her prey was the source.

She quickly bolted from her position at the base of the tree into the forest, her body on autopilot as she weaved between low hanging branches and tree roots towards her destination.

_You can run but you can't hide Whiskers!_

* * *

Naruto stopped in the middle of a second smaller clearing and took a moment to catch his breath, he needed to be sure he had enough space to put his plan into action. He'd managed to waste about ten minutes zigzagging through the various forest paths.

He had forgone hiding and he had no doubt his pursuers would soon be upon him. If everything worked out as he hoped then he would probably be home free or close enough that it wouldn't matter.

He suddenly tensed as the sound of rustling foliage sounded out from behind him causing him to whirl around in preparation.

_Who had found him first?_

He didn't have to wonder long as the pale visage of Hinata stepped foot into the clearing her face neutral and body tensed as she approached stopping a few feet in front of him her arms laid at her sides.

Naruto smiled at his friend, "Hina-chan...I should have guessed you'd find me first, given your abilities I guess I shouldn't be too surprised."

Hinata offered him a demure smile in return the playful warmth in his tone made it hard for her to keep her guard up around him but she knew better than to relax too much, "It doesn't help that your chakra stands out like a sore thumb Naruto-kun, now would you kindly surrender yourself into my care?"

"As nice as you make that sound I have to decline after all have I ever been the type to surrender to anyone?" he answered with a raised eyebrow and a quirk to his lips

Hinata pouted, "Not even for me?" she puffed up her cheeks and stuck out her lip hoping to capitalize on one of his few weaknesses.

An advantage was an advantage after all.

"Cute or not I won't just hand myself over Hina-chan, you'll have to put in some work if you want to bring me in." He laughed as her pout turned into a small scowl.

"Very well, I'll try and make this as quick as possible then." she said slipping into her clan's battle stance her byakugan flaring to life once more the veins around her eyes bulging out.

He slipped into his own stance, "You sure you don't want to draw it out? You're staring pretty intensely at me right now you know." He teased wiggling his eyebrows a bit.

Hinata's cheeks instantly flushed red from the implication and she glared at him, "You know full well I can't see through clothes!"

"That's just what you say, I can't be sure you're telling the truth Hina-chan~." he replied barely restrained amusement leaking from his every word.

It never stopped being funny to watch her get all worked up over this, plus he needed to waste every second he could if he planned on winning this. He could make it up to her later.

Hinata scoffed and launched herself at him having grown tired of his teasing sending chakra to the tips of her fingers she lashed out aiming for the chakra points in his arm.

However, Naruto was very familiar with the gentle fist and quickly weaved out of the way of her strikes swaying between her attacks while slipping his own in where he could but focused more on avoiding her attacks at all costs.

The two danced around one another Hinata's grace and flexibility matched by Naruto's speed and unpredictability kept them deadlocked in a flurry of fists, kicks, and palm strikes. Neither landing more than glancing blows upon the other as they moved throughout the field in their violent yet dance.

Hinata sucked her teeth as she blocked a kick with her arms, despite being on the defensive Naruto had managed to avoid all of her attacks, and while he hadn't landed any solid hits of his own either she knew that if it came down to endurance she knew he had her beat easily.

It seemed like he'd improved during their time apart.

The two broke apart and watched each other carefully, Hinata kept her sights trained on him and to her annoyance, his chakra was still flowing steadily through his coils.

Naruto watched quietly as Hinata inspected him, so far he'd managed to avoid taking any real damage but the longer this went on the higher the chance he slipped up and put his plan in jeopardy.

Time to move onto phase two.

"Hina-chan I think we're going to have to cut this a little short I've hung around here too long." he spoke falling out of his stance and earning a surprised look from the bluenette.

"You don't seriously believe I'm just going to let you go?" She may not have cared much about losing but she still wanted to win.

Plus she was still a little miffed about his teasing she wasn't a pervert damn it!

"You say that like you can stop me." He replied casually slipping his hand into the pockets of his hoodie.

Hinata tensed even as he relaxed his stance, warning bells going off in her head at his knowing smile as though taunting her about some hidden advantage.

She hated when he did that.

Her only warning her was the slight churning of his chakra core before her vision was consumed by a shining blue explosion as his chakra surged outwards, untamed arcs of energy washed over her and for a moment she felt as though she was staring directly into the sun recoiling at the overwhelming luminescence.

The overwhelming brightness blinded her and she instinctively deactivated her byakugan to stop the burning sensation in her retina. Hurriedly rubbing at her eyes she tried to relocate her target but she ran into a small problem.

Well, actually a numerous amount of large problems.

Hinata stared blearily into the newly formed sea of blonds each offering her what she could only guess were somewhat apologetic smiles?

_Kami her eyes hurt…_

"Ah, so sorry Hina-chan we hope that wasn't too bad for you but we promise to make it up to you later though we'll take you out for cinnamon buns!"

Before she had even had the chance to respond she felt one of the copies gently pat her head and whisper "_tag_", before with a holler the hoard of blonds scattered into the forest each scrambling to get as far away as possible from the clearing.

_When the heck had he learned that?!_

"...That's so unfair." Was all Hinata could say as she slumped onto the ground waiting for her vision to clear back up and return to normal.

* * *

In a nearby tree, Shino frowned slightly beneath the collar of his jacket as the few kikaichū he'd planted on the blond returned to him. He had been watching the confrontation between Naruto and his teammate and had hoped that Hinata might weaken him enough for him to ambush the blond.

That plan was now in shambles seeing as Hinata was currently incapacitated and whether intentionally or not Naruto had blown his kikaichū off of him with his chakra pulse.

He also had a new problem in the form of the newly revealed shadow clones, he had sent scouts to see if he could determine the real blond from the copies but his kikaichū couldn't tell, apparently they all had the same chakra and unlike the clone technique taught in the academy, these clones were solid.

_Wonderful._

He had bugged as many of the copies as he could and his hive could feel out at least twelve clones making their way off in different directions. He'd have to hope one of them was the real one otherwise his chance of locating and capturing the blond within the time limit was highly unlikely.

With a grunt of annoyance, he launched himself in the direction the closest marker.

This wasn't going to be as easy as he'd initially predicted...

* * *

Naruto let out an exhausted sigh as he sat on the stone floor of a hidden away cave the memories of popping clones trickling into his mind every so often kept him up to date on the status of their little hunt.

Hinata and Shino were off ambushing his clones and between the two of them, they'd destroyed about fifteen already. Good progress but they were wasting time he estimated they only had about twenty or so minutes before the exercise was over. They were making good progress on the clones but it would be a miracle if they somehow found him at this point.

He'd made a pretty risky gamble creating a decoy clone so early on but it had paid off seeing as the two of them were off on the opposite side of the forest.

His plan had been simple, have the decoy lead them off in one direction while he broke off and made his way quietly to a different part of the forest. His clone would then make more clones and have them scatter throughout the forest allowing him to plan accordingly.

So far it had worked but, there was a slight snag that had him worried.

_Where the hell was Kira?_

The only one not accounted for was the Inuzuka and seeing as he hadn't received any information from his clones he had to assume she either hadn't run into any or she was purposely ignoring them and neither of those options was particularly pleasant.

He'd taken some steps to mask his scent by rubbing against dead foliage and trees to cover up his own natural smell but without a source of water to wash himself he couldn't be sure that would be enough and unless he wanted to draw attention to himself he couldn't afford to cast any of his of water jutsu.

That and he needed to conserve what little chakra he had left for the worst-case scenario.

Naruto stood and made his way to the mouth of the cave and looked out into the dense woodland expanse, his eyes peering into the slight gaps between the trees and hanging vines for any sign of movement...

Nothing.

He didn't see anything so why was he so on edge? Perhaps it was his low reserves making him jumpy or the eeriness inherent to hanging around in the shadows of the towering canopy.

_***snap!***_

Naruto immediately drew a kunai and scanned the forest again, despite his exhaustion his forced himself to remain alert, his muscles tense as adrenaline began to seep into his system tempered by his resolve and years training the world around him grew clearer and he was briefly able to make out a streak of grey in the verdant foliage.

"Shit…"

**"Tunneling Fang!" **

Naruto barely managed to roll out of the way as a grey drill like bullet shot passed him and into the cave, rocketing by like a drill before impacting against the cave walls a few times before shooting back out again just narrowly missing him. The drilling blur slowed as it reached the tree line before fading to reveal the feral form of the Inuzuka heiress.

"You are aware this is just a training exercise right? I don't think I deserve to be maimed over this." he deadpanned looking at the trench her technique had carved into the ground below.

_Was she trying to kill him?!_

Kira grinned, "Oh don't be such a baby Whiskers I knew you'd dodge so it's fine besides with how tough you are I doubt that would have kept you down long anyway." She dismissed his concerns with a wave of her hand.

If he was at full strength she'd probably be right but right now that probably would have knocked him out immediately.

"How did you even find me? I made sure to cover my tracks and mix my scent in with the forest."

She gave her signature fanged smile, "You made two big mistakes Whiskers," she said holding up two fingers, "The first was challenging us in our home turf we know every smell in the forest even if you managed to blend in your own scent was still detectable."

She wasn't going to tell him that she'd actually needed to stop a few times to find his trail again he'd done better at hiding than she let on.

"Your second mistake was holding Akamaru this morning." She said while the puppy in question popped out of her hood and barked in greeting.

Naruto wanted to kick himself, he'd completely overlooked their encounter this morning. Akamaru had spent more than enough time with him to familiarize himself with his scent and combined with their knowledge of the area he had stood no chance...

He grimaced as he analyzed the situation, Kira was without question the worst opponent he could be faced with right now. She was bigger than him, slightly faster, and in his current condition more than strong enough to beat him into submission. Not to mention she had a partner that despite his size was deceptively strong and highly determined.

He couldn't run, he couldn't hide, and he very much doubted he could fight her and win easily...

"Could I perhaps convince you to forget you saw me and we can both go on our merry way?" he half asked half pleaded.

_Maybe she'd take pity?_

"What? No way Whiskers, I didn't come all this way to have you chicken out!" She growled.

_Kami damn it!_

He sighed but fell into his stance regardless, he idly wondered if this was how Team Ten felt when they had to fight with him?

"Akamaru you can sit this one out buddy." Kira said dropping her companion onto the floor and falling into her own crouched stance and the two stared one another down, their muscles tensing and relaxing and ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation.

The sounds of the forest fell silent as if it was an unseen spectator watching with bated breath, the only noise was the soft whistle of the wind as it eased its way through the canopy.

The calm before the storm...

The two suddenly dashed forward meeting each other halfway in a rapid exchange of punches, kicks, and swipes, if his clones fight with Hinata was comparable to a flowing dance then his exchange with Kira was more reminiscent of a drunken bar brawl.

Every hit he landed she returned with twice the fervor, nothing was off limits and nothing was held back and the two clashed over and over again the harsh thud of every hit echoed softly out through the trees.

Naruto grit his teeth as Kira's first sailed into his jaw knocking his head back, the taste of copper making itself present in his mouth a solid sign that he'd be spitting blood for a bit. Growling he responded in kind and launched his knee into the Inuzuka girls stomach earning a strangled wheeze and a shower of spittle for his efforts.

He knew he was fighting a losing battle, his body ached and what little chakra he had left was being used up just to keep up with his opponent. Kira was the only person he'd ever met that could fight him like this even Satsuki would never willingly take a hit from him just for the sake of landing her own.

That said he wasn't going to go down quietly either!

Kira smiled savagely as she traded blows with the blond, she winced as his foot smashed into her exposed torso but held firm and launched a jab into his chest in return. She missed this, she missed fighting with someone who was willing to hunker down and meet her fist to fist without any gimmicks or tricks.

Her teammates just couldn't scratch that itch for her, Hinata was skilled but she preferred to disable her opponents quickly with her clan's taijutsu, while Shino lacked the stamina and durability to keep up with her and would rather evade than risk taking a hit to her constant annoyance.

Naruto though, he always met her on equal terms even when he was weakened he still gave his all. Despite his best efforts, she could tell whatever he'd done to throw off her teammates had taken a lot out of him her clan training made her sensitive to signs of weakness in an opponent and she could see that he was barely holding himself up right now.

The way his arms trembled with every block, the rigidity of his stance as though he was more concerned with keeping himself upright compared to actually working around her attacks.

The fact that he'd just socked her square in the nose and she wasn't seeing stars was also a pretty good hint.

She would never say it out loud but she admired his resolve, even as they threw themselves at each other over and over again he remained unflinching, he gave no ground no matter how hard she hit him.

_She couldn't ask for a better rival!_

With a snarl, she leaned forward and drove her forehead harshly into his own, the metal of her headband protecting her from most of the backlash and adding to the impact. Naruto groaned and stumbled back before coughing as Kira tackled him to the ground sending the two rolling along the floor.

They still never stopped attacking, each launching short but no less painful jabs into the others exposed body while they fought for dominance their limbs flailing and flying in a tangled mess.

Eventually, however, Naruto's exhaustion caught up with him and he found himself pinned beneath his slightly larger opponent his arms forced above his head while she sat victoriously upon his stomach.

The two sat quietly staring at one another, round blue eyes gazing into slit black, their breathing heavy and labored and their hearts pumping rapidly in their chests.

"You look like shit, Whiskers..." Kira whispered out looking at the battered and slightly bleeding form of her rival, his jacket was torn and shredded in some places. She could already see his face swelling slightly where she'd decked him and his forehead was a bright red though surprisingly he wasn't bleeding.

Heh, guess she wasn't the only hardheaded one in their class.

"You don't look much better Kibble." He shot back taking some enjoyment in seeing her scowl at the nickname but groaning a bit when she pushed more of her weight down on him, "Okay okay! I'm sorry ease up please!"

"You better be sorry you have to respect the pecking order blondie." She admonished.

"Last I checked I still have one win over you don't that put me ahead in your pecking order." he pointed out.

"Last I checked I'm the one sitting on you so I'd suggest you be quiet." She fired back sticking her tongue out at him.

"Yeah yeah whatever, speaking of which I'm pretty sure you've won the bet so can I get up now?"

She smirked at the acknowledgment of her victory but didn't budge, "How about this, I'll let you up if you admit right now that I'm better than you~"

Naruto glared at her, "That would be lying and lying is wrong." She would never let it go if he ever said it and he had too much pride to stroke her ego further.

Her grin only grew larger and with an exaggerated huff she adjusted herself, "I guess I just won't be getting up then."

Naruto deadpanned and instead turned to Akamaru who was watching the proceeding events with some bemusement, "Can you please control your pet please?"

"Who are you calling a pet you shitty blond?!"

"Do I need to spell it out for you dog breath?!"

Akamaru watched the two go back and forth for a little longer before he decided that perhaps he needed to intervene, walking up to his master's leg he nudged her.

"Eh? Akamaru don't tell me you're taking his side?" She questioned incredulously.

"Arf! Arf Arf!"

She looked at her partner with confusion, "What are you talking about he's not-"

Akamaru whined and joined his master, jumping onto the blond's chest he stretched himself out in an impression of the Inuzuka heiress before looking back at her "Arf!"

"It's part of the exercise!" She defended, her face gaining a slight flush which was thankfully hidden by her clan markings.

Akamaru gave her a look that spoke volumes about what he thought of her defense.

"Arf Arf!"

Kira suddenly went pale, "You wouldn't dare!"

"Arf."

Naruto watched as his captor seemed to struggle with whatever ultimatum the pup had presented, her face shifting from prideful stubbornness to quiet embarrassment, before settling on grim resignation.

She quickly stood up picking Akamaru up and shoving him back into her hoodie earning a small yelp from the pint-sized pup. "Fine fine, I still won in the end so it doesn't matter but you better keep quiet." She hissed dusting herself off.

Naruto sat up and stretched, wincing slightly at the growing pain all over his body, he was definitely going to be feeling that tomorrow...

Maybe he should have just let Hinata or Shino catch him?

"What are you sitting around for Whiskers, lets head back already." Kira called out tapping her foot impatiently against the ground.

"Hold your puppy I'm coming." he said pushing himself up.

Or at least he tried too before quickly falling back on his rear with a grunt his legs unresponsive from the combination of chakra exhaustion and the pummeling he just received.

_Fan-freaking-tastic..._

"Kira..." He muttered, "I think I need help..."

Truthfully he had expected laughter, mockery, a bit of gloating or even just outright dismissal but to his surprise, she merely nodded and rather gently helped him to his feet allowing him to lean against her as a support.

"...I have to be honest I didn't actually think you would help me." He admitted earning a dismissive snort from his friend.

"You put up a good fight" She admitted, "Plus I kinda went a _little_ overboard so I can at least help you make it back to the entrance." she shrugged.

"You make it sound like you totally overpowered me, I think I did pretty good all things considered." He argued.

She laughed, "Sounds like something a sore loser would say~"

He scoffed but said nothing else and the two fell into a comfortable silence as they made the trek back through the winding trees and tangled roots both tired but content.

Kira eventually broke the silence, "Hey...Naruto?"

"Yes?" He answered giving her his full attention seeing as she almost never called him by his name unless it was something important.

"Next time we fight, I want you to be at your best and I want you to promise you won't hold back on me." She didn't look at him as she spoke but at the same time, he didn't need to see her face to understand her sentiment.

He nudged her softly, "I didn't know you were so eager to lose but okay, next time we fight I won't pull any punches so you better bring your best Kibble."

She grinned and nudged him back hard almost tripping him, "Good, I don't want there to be any doubt about who's the strongest. Akamaru and I are going to wipe the floor with you Whiskers you can count on it."

"You keep on telling yourself that."

* * *

Kurenai blinked owlishly as the battered and bruised duo trudged their way back into the clearing, beside her Hinata sighed and Shino just shook his heads at the state the two were in.

"Would either of you like to explain why you look like you've been put through a blender?" She asked looking the two over with a disapproving glare that set the two on edge.

The duo looked at each other briefly as though having a wordless conversation before answering simultaneously.

**_She molested me!/We were attacked!_**

**"OI! THE HELL DO YOU MEAN I MOLESTED YOU?!" **

"Akamaru witnessed the whole thing, didn't you?"

"Arf!" The pup nodded.

**"I AM GOING TO KICK BOTH YOUR ASSES!" **The Inuzuka heiress roared.

"Sensei help!"

"**SHUT UP AND TAKE YOUR BEATING!"**

Kurenai pinched the bridge of her nose, "I regret asking... you two just settle down so we can go over the exercise please." Her tone indicating that if they didn't do as she asked they'd both be in big trouble.

The two nodded and hastily made their way over to the rest of the group, settling into the grass next to Hinata and Shino.

Kurenai looked over the assembled genin for a moment before speaking, "Before we begin I think we have to address the apparent victor of our exercise."

Kira quickly puffed her chest out in pride, "Hehe, as if there was any doubt I'd win sensei!"

"Actually statistically speaking you had the lowest chance of catching Naruto-san so you're statement is false." Shino supplied earning a dark look from the Inuzuka.

Naruto had to bite his tongue to keep his laughter down and Hinata suspiciously began coughing into her sleeve at that moment.

Kira glared at all of them, "I hope you know I hate you all!"

Kurenai interjected, "Alright enough of that, Kira you did well I'm proud of you." She said calming her charge and earning a cheeky grin from the wild girl.

"Now what did you four learn from this experience?" She questioned, she already knew her team's strengths and weaknesses and she pushed them to always critically look at their performance and seek to improve.

Shino spoke first, "I discovered that I am ill-equipped to handle opponents like Naruto-san by myself, his abnormally large reserves and combat ability made direct confrontation impractical. However, my lack of more open action played a large part in my failure." The Aburame admitted.

Kurenai nodded, she had been able to gauge the blonds reserves earlier and while she wasn't sure how much he had she could tell he easily had more than most jounin could claim to possess. Shino would be hard pressed to drain enough energy from the boy without serious risk to his hive and Shino like most of his clan was just unwilling to do so.

She gestured to Hinata to go next.

Hinata bowed her head, "I learned that to be more effective in combat I need to work on my speed and ability to misdirect opponents. I could have disabled my target but due to his knowledge of my clan's taijutsu and his superior speed, I was unable to complete my objective and was left incapacitated on the field."

Kurenai nodded again, the Hyuga clan's famous taijutsu style, while effective was very easily telegraphed and with the proper knowledge, experience, and speed could be worked around. She wasn't sure just how close the blond was to her student but apparently, he had enough of each to match Hinata head on and escape.

She turned to her remaining student and waited for her report.

Kira grinned and spoke, "I confirmed that I am a total badass and that Akamaru is a total traitor." she shot an annoyed look at her canine companion at that last point.

Said 'traitor' merely rolled around in the shade promptly ignoring his master's complaints, it wasn't his fault she couldn't be honest with herself.

Humans were so complicated.

She sucked her teeth but continued, "I also, however, realize that I needlessly put myself in a confrontation with my target allowing my own personal desires to take precedence over my mission." She begrudgingly admitted.

She probably could have captured Naruto without fighting him but she had chosen to confront him directly and in turn, had sustained some damage.

She didn't regret her choice though she just couldn't say that out loud.

As if sensing her thought Kurenai could only sigh but still acknowledged her students report. Kira was without question her most impulsive student always leaping before looking, her bravery was admirable but she needed to learn to temper her emotions before taking action.

She made a mental note to perform more control exercises in the future.

Finally, she rounded on her temporary charge and waited for his observations.

Naruto was silent for a moment before offering his thoughts, "I guess the biggest thing I learned was that relying too much on one tactic is a recipe for failure and that without proper preparation you can't make full use of your advantages. He surmised his weaknesses in this exercise bluntly.

He had banked on his decoy and his clones to throw off the entire team, draining himself and leaving him open to attack. Kira hadn't taken the bait and in a real fight, he would have been captured or killed. Despite his raw amount of chakra acting as a hard counter to Shino's insects and Hinata's eyes, he had still been left relatively helpless.

His lack of knowledge and his own oversight had led to his defeat.

Kurenai noted that despite his loss Naruto didn't seem particularly upset but rather reflective and humbled by the experience. He'd done well almost lasting the whole hour given his disadvantages and she'd been impressed by his creative use of shadow clones.

She thought Asuma might have been pulling her leg when he'd mentioned a genin having attained mastery of a jounin level technique but her suspicions had been quickly dispelled. She had been shadowing her team for a short time under a minor genjutsu and she'd witnessed his brief confrontation with Hinata and had been shocked at just how many clones he'd managed to produce.

That was easily double what she could make on a good day.

Kurenai looked over the assembled genin before smiling and addressing them all, "I'm proud to say you all did very well even working independently, I wanted you all to see how you faired alone and remind you why Konoha emphasizes teamwork so heavily. You won't always have the luxury of your teammate's skills to fall back on so it is important you know your own limitations and not to take your team for granted." She lectured earning a round of understanding looks.

"As for you Naruto, I hope this was a valuable lesson on both stealth and situational awareness. If you ever get lost in a hostile territory you will now have more insight on how best to approach the situation and in the best case scenario make it safely back to your team or safe zone."

Naruto bowed, "Thank you Kurenai-sensei!"

The ruby-eyed jounin offered a small smile at him, "Of course you are a fellow shinobi of the village and I think you taught my team some valuable lessons in turn."

"Now then," She crossed her arms, "Seeing as you all did so well how about I treat you all to lunch?"

Kira whooped and jumped to her feet excitedly, "Can we get steak?!"

Shino pushed up his shades and countered, "A salad would be preferable..."

Hinata pouted and offered her own thoughts, "I think something sweet would be best."

Kurenai internally lamented that perhaps she should have just sent them home...

Naruto laughed and presented his own suggestion, "I think there is a place in the market district that serves some good honey barbeque and has some vegetarian options if that helps."

The three members of Team Eight looked at each other before nodding in agreement.

Kira pumped her fist into the air, "Alright onward to the meats!" She shouted and dragged an exhausted Naruto and a bemused Hinata towards the exit, Shino following behind them at his own pace.

Kurenai watched on from further back at the little moment between friends, it reminded her a little bit of her time as a genin. She had a feeling those four would go on to do great things someday.

But for now, she would guide them to the best of her ability.

"Sensei come on!"

_Even if for now they were little brats..._

* * *

**AN. Chapter Complete!**

_**Now onto story stuff, I mentioned at the end of the last chapter I would be focusing on Team Eight next, with that done where to next?**_

**Well for people itching for the story to move on you will get your wish since the Wave Arc is up next. The Wave arc will without question take up multiple chapters probably two or three with how I am envisioning them. Afterward, momentum will carry forward into the Chunin exams, I will still through character moments in between but I will try to keep the story moving faster now.**

_**Next up why the focus on Kira this chapter and how I wrote her along with why Naruto seems more energized and loud with her.**_

**Same as why I focused on Ino and Shikari in the last chapter, I needed to characterize her more since she is in the harem. I think of the confirmed harem members other than Hinata, Kira was the most fleshed out but with Shikari getting more development I decided rather than make Kira share space with Hinata, who will get another chapter to cement her later, I decided to make her more prominent and explore their relationship more.**

**I wanted to make her very clearly distinct from the other girls, Hinata and Shikari share some traits so I wrote Kira in a way that made her stand out from them. She is rough, she is loud, and she is wild and in turn, I wanted that dynamic to come through when she interacts with others.**

**As for why Naruto seems louder and less serious with her, I guess you can think of it as the two feeding off one another, Kira is much more energetic so in turn when they interact Naruto (who in this story is by no means quiet) feeds off of that and in turn gets riled up as well. With Shikari he's a lot more easy going since she's lazy and likes to take things slow, while with Hinata he's playful to keep her comfortable and relaxed.**

_**Why did I bother making the various types of clones, and despite saying I don't want Naruto to use them a crutch have him rely on them here?**_

**In my mind, if you have a technique it is only natural to see the limits of what you can do with it and naturally, you'll want to evolve it. I don't want it to serve as a crutch in battle like how he just swarms opponents but he will still use it when the need arises.**

**Here there would have been no good way to justify his lasting so long without clones, Hinata and Shino would have caught him relatively quickly otherwise so I decided to both add to his arsenal for future encounters and give him a leg up in the upcoming chapter.**

**-Future me here and it has been some time but seeing as this has popped up in a few reviews I feel it best to come back and address it. **

**No, I did not forget how the Kage Bunshin works, I am very well aware that chakra can be transferred back to the user. I know some people point to this as me gifting the win to Kira. However, to be clear as I have said in a few responses I am neither writing nor limited by the Naruto Canon. I plan to have jutsu evolve and expand as their users grow more familiar with the techniques and as of now Naruto isn't going to be spamming a million clones and then having the chakra return to him.**

**Just as Naruto never realized the information gathering abilities of the jutsu beforehand, here presently he isn't fully aware of the ins and outs of the jutsu and being one of the few people who can use it so liberally he will discover some things on his own as he goes.**

**Just want to have that said now since it seems to bother people a bit, do remember this is a place where canon works a guideline more than a strict ruleset of the world.-**

_**Now last up Harem info.**_

**For all the people begging me not to make the harem big, I wish to point out I have already said I am NOT going to make it a super large harem! I am taking SUGGESTIONS nothing is guaranteed.**

**With that said I have gotten a few new suggestions so be sure to give your thoughts on them if you care, I also will only be showing the confirmed list when a new girl is added for the sake of keeping things clear if you want to see the confirmed and suggested list please look at the bottom of the last chapter:**

**Tayuya (Sound): I've read some good stories with her though if people want her I'm going to have to step my swear game up.**

**Kin (Sound): I remember one story with her I really enjoyed but I believe it was abandoned, could work but that's up to you.**

**Fu (Waterfall Container): Someone wanted to see Naruto with another beast container.**

**Yugito (Cloud Container): Same as above.**

***Fem. Gaara: This was suggested by a friend who desperately wanted to see this added. I'm very much considering it (if only to keep them from breaking into my house and holding me hostage) but I am at least putting it down to hear what people think. It's not guaranteed though so if people don't want it please feel free to say so.**

**That's it for the new suggestions if I missed yours PM it to me and I'll add it to the list in the next chapter.**

**I think that's it so yay lol, take care everyone please leave a review and let me know your thoughts and next update will begin Naruto's journey into Wave!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I own nothing sadly.**

**AN. Before we begin I want to say hello to all the new readers it's really amazing to have you here and thank you for taking the time out to read my story I very much appreciate it!**

**Now the last two chapters have been good for the world but slow in regards to the story but hopefully, this chapter will move things along. As always I will talk further about events and choices at the end of the chapter so make sure to read the notes down there as well and without further ado, I hope you enjoy!**

**(My editing time for this chapter was interrupted by some family stuff but I think everything is okay but if there is a glaring problem or omission feel free to PM me and I'll try and get it sorted as quickly as I can!)**

* * *

"You're late and why do you have that?!" Sakura screeched as Naruto strolled into their training ground with a steaming cup of instant ramen in his hands.

"Sakura-chan stop yelling, sensei isn't here yet so I can't be late" He fired back, "And since I knew I'd have time I decided to make something for myself." he said shrugging his shoulders and sipping happily on the warmth noodle broth.

Cheat days were the best days!

Sakura prepared to retort before seemingly realizing that arguing would be pointless and instead simply sat back down with a huff of air and allowing silence to reign again.

He chuckled at the irate look on the pinkette's face before he planted himself down next to her, she scowled at him but otherwise didn't make much of a fuss which was actually rather impressive given their prior relationship.

Taking a bite out of his breakfast he turned to face his team, "So...what did you guys do with your time off?" He asked, might as well try to break the ice now rather than wait plus after spending all that time with the other teams during their leave he really did want to bond more with his own team having seen how the other squads, quirky as they may be, seemed to interact well enough.

Sakura seemed caught off guard by his question likely not having expected him to actually care but quickly recovered and answered, "I didn't really do much..." She admitted with slight embarrassment nervously rubbing her arm, "I did some shopping but other than that I took it easy."

When she said it out loud it seemed kind of pathetic...

Beside her Satsuki who had been quiet up to this point snorted but didn't comment further, her disapproval abundantly clear.

Naruto hadn't really expected much out of her but he couldn't deny that a small part of him had hoped that she would have done something a more productive with her time, even light training would have been preferable. Still, he wasn't going to mock her for it either she was likely just stuck in her old habits, "Everyone needs a rest sometimes so I can't blame you for taking your chance."

He nodded and took note of the appreciative glance she sent him for his words, she probably had been expecting him to put her down as well.

"What about you Princess? I doubt even you could spend an entire week just brooding." He joked easily dismissing the heated glare from the raven-haired kunoichi at his mockery.

She sighed and leaned further back against the training post she was resting against, "I trained." Her answer was simple, to the point, and entirely expected by anyone who had known her from more than a day.

"...You're so boring."

Her eye twitched slightly and she glared heatedly back at his unimpressed face, "Unlike you, I actually have goals I need to accomplish, so I'm sorry if that's not interesting enough for you." She growled out.

Despite her harsh words, he'd know her long enough not to take them seriously, "I just meant your answer was boring, training is so vague." He waved his chopsticks in the air, "What did you train in? How did it go? Give us details."

Her glare lessened as he explained himself, her anger turning into confusion tinged with suspicion, "Why do you care exactly?" she asked narrowing her eyes.

"We're a team, aren't we? Is it wrong for me to take an interest in what you're doing?"

"You were never interested before." She shot back and to her surprise he seemed to become contemplative, going silent for few moments while he registered her words before he nodded in concession looking her directly in the eyes.

"I know..." He sighed, "Look I think we can all admit this team arrangement wasn't exactly what we all wanted." He paused and looked between his two teammates who looked back at him pensively, digesting his words, "That said, I don't see why we should make it harder on ourselves. Whatever disagreements we had in back the academy doesn't have to define where we stand today."

Sakura spoke up quietly considering his words, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

He leaned forward resting his hands on his knees, "I propose a fresh start, I'm not saying we need to be the best of friends or anything but I think we should at least be able to have a conversation without things being awkward or hostile."

The two girls took a moment to go over his requests.

Sakura wasn't against it truthfully, she'd never say it but she honestly felt a bit out of place when she was with her team. She didn't have the same single-minded drive of the Uchiha heiress or the unwavering confidence of her blond teammate not to mention the power gap between them...

Maybe this could be her chance to close that distance?

Satsuki was quiet as she poured over his words, she wasn't a ninja to make friends she was here to bring her deceased family to justice and make them proud.

Friends didn't factor into that equation.

At the same time, however, she had to acknowledge that at one point the two had been something akin to friends once. Before that terrible night had put her on her current path, he was the closest thing to a friend she could have claimed to have.

Now here he was, once more extending an olive branch but would she take it was the question.

Before either of them could settle on an answer, their discussion was interrupted by a swirl of leaves announcing the arrival of their squad leader.

Kakashi stepped lazily forward his masked face set in a jovial smile judging by the curve of his singular exposed eye, "Well hello my cute little genin, it has been awhile."

"Are you ever going to arrive on time sensei..." The three glared at their notoriously tardy sensei who chuckled nervously at the irate looks they were sending him. It seems even in his absence the three had not grown fond of his habits.

"Ah, I can't help it the road of life is filled with unexpected twists and turns." He answered completely sidestepping the question much to his team's annoyance.

Kakashi clapped, "Anyway since you all have been cooped up for a week I think today is the perfect day to take some missions." He made no effort to disguise his amusement at the looks of resignation on their faces.

_Maybe he should have passed a team earlier?_

"Ugh..."

The life of a genin was truly not one to envy.

* * *

"Congratulations on another successful D-Rank, Team Seven I'm sure Madam Shijimi is grateful to have Tora-chan back safely where she belongs." The Sandaime compliment sitting comfortably behind the mission counter, his pipe resting in his free hand as he went over various mission reports.

In front of him stood a more than slightly disheveled Team Seven, clearly catching the runaway cat had proven more difficult than it sounded on paper not all that surprising given Tora had been escaping for years and was more than capable of giving even some chunin trouble.

"Since you're back early there are still some missions available." He reached over and began shuffling through scrolls, "The Tanka family could use a sitter for the evening, Miss Watanabe needs some extra hands for dish watching duty, or perhaps you'd like to assist the Inuzuka clan in cleaning out their kennels?"

Naruto coughed into his fist and stepped forward, "With all due respect Hokage-sama...we must decline all of those." He said leveling a serious look at his aged leader.

The Sandaime paused his shuffling and looked up meeting the gaze of the genin before him, "Excuse me?"

Naruto crossed his arms, "These missions are just glorified chores any academy student could do, this is a waste of our talents and our time." He spoke bluntly earning a punch to the arm from a furious Sakura.

"Idiot! You can't say that to the Hokage!" She hissed, even if she agreed with him she wasn't about to let him land them all on probation!

"It's true, I bet even Satsuki agrees with me!"

The girl in question merely grunted but made no move to disprove his point, he was right the only way to get stronger was to push herself and she didn't count finding lost cats as particularly challenging.

The Sandaime was quiet for a moment before speaking, "So you feel as though you aren't being challenged, do you truly believe that you all are prepared for what awaits you outside these walls?"

Naruto and Satsuki nodded without hesitation both were eager to prove themselves and had no doubts about their ability, Sakura seemed hesitant but she too nodded resolving to stand by her team even if she wasn't sure about her own merits.

The aged Kage looked them over once more before glancing at the leader of Team Seven, "And what do you think Kakashi? Do you believe they are ready?" he questioned.

Kakashi looked up from his reading, his single eye meeting the determined and anxious gazes of his charges before sighing and closing his book. "I think while they are still a little rough around the edges they are capable enough to handle something a little more challenging." He admitted earning a wide grin from Naruto, a satisfied grunt from Satsuki, and a small cheer from Sakura.

The Sandaime leaned back in his chair, "I see...very well if Kakashi thinks you three can handle it there is one C-Rank escort/guard mission available." He said and waved his hand signaling to his security to fetch the client.

Team Seven watched anxiously as the sound of footsteps approached the mission room, they wondered who they would be escorting perhaps a princess, or a famous noble, maybe even a Daimyo?!

Reality was often disappointing.

"You're assigning me to these brats? They don't look like very much..."

Instead of a beautiful princess or a regal noble, a tall raggedy old man stumbled into the mission room a bottle of sake clutched loosely by his side as he stared unhappily at his newly appointed bodyguards.

The Sandiame waved off the disgruntled man's concerns, "I assure you these three are more than capable of escorting you back home safely, and you have one of the finest Jounin in the village accompanying you just in case."

The man snorted and seemed unconvinced, "If you say so..." He took another swig from his bottle, "My name is Tazuna, I'm a bridge builder and I expect you brats to do your jobs properly and keep me safe so you better not go slacking off, got that!" He slurred clearly having had more than a bit to drink.

Kakashi decided quickly interject before his team became a new threat to the man's life, "I promise you to have nothing to fear Tazuna-san, my team and I will take care of you." he reassured offering the man on his famous eye smiles.

Tazuna grumbled a bit more but made no move to complain again.

Kakashi then turned to his students, "You three are dismissed for today this mission will likely take a few weeks if not longer so make sure to pack for an extended trip. We'll meet at the front gate at 7 am sharp so try and get a good night's rest."

The trio nodded and each set off to prepare for their first mission outside of Konoha.

**-Village Entrance-**

Team Seven sat quietly by the towering front gates waiting for their both their sensei and their client, an air of anxiousness hung over them as the reality of their upcoming expedition out into the open world began to settle in, though there was a tinge of anticipation mixed in as well at the thought of what wonders awaited them beyond the walls of their home.

They didn't have to wait long as Kakashi and Tazuna arrived soon after, each sporting their own packs as well and chatting amicably as the strode over to the waiting group.

"Sensei?...you're...you're actually on time?!" Sakura stuttered as though witnessing the end of the world. Beside her, Naruto was watching Kakashi suspiciously and Satsuki could be heard subtly whispering "kai" as if trapped in some kind of genjutsu.

Kakashi frowned, "That hurts you know, I'm not always late."

The trio stared hard at the man the implied "liar!" was fairly was clear even if unspoken.

Kakashi continued unperturbed, "Do you three have everything you'll need we won't be turning back once we leave." He asked offering them a final chance to pick up anything they needed.

The trio shook their heads, they had all said their goodbyes and were more than ready to finally head out.

Kakashi smiled and clapped their client on the shoulder, "Are you ready Tazuna-san?"

The disgruntled bridge builder grunted, "I'm ready to go just keep your brats in line and watch my back."

Kakashi nodded, "We have about a day's journey ahead of us before we make it Nami no Kuni, so its best to set out now we likely won't encounter any real resistance but keep on your guard nonetheless."

Naruto and Satsuki frowned slightly at that, while Sakura seemed to relax at their sensei's reassurance.

"Alright Team Seven, let's move out."

"Hai!"

* * *

The group had been traveling for about a few hours and were fast approaching the borders of the village, the dense swath of trees slowly widening as they approached the more open rolling plains of the rest of Fire Country.

Sakura, always the inquisitive one the group turned to face their client, "Tazuna-san, why did you come to Konoha for assistance? Does Wave not have its own shinobi force you could have gone to?" she questioned.

Tazuna shook his head "Girlie, Wave is mostly made up of fishermen, farmers, and builders like myself if there are any ninja in Wave they sure as hell haven't made any effort to make contact." he snorted taking another swig of his sake and tipping his hat to shade himself.

Kakashi helped to clarify, "Wave is pretty small and being located on an island makes it less convenient to travel to than any of the main Shinobi villages and even some of the minor ones. It just wouldn't be practical to set up a village there not to mention being so close to Konoha would prove troublesome for a number of reasons."

Tazuna grunted, "That's why I need to get home and finish constructing my bridge when that's finished Wave can finally be more than a sleepy fisherman's town!" For the first time, he actually sounded passionate about something catching the group off guard.

Naruto grinned at this new side to grumpy man, "That's a pretty cool goal for an old drunk like you, I like it!" It seemed there was more to the old man than he gave him credit for.

"Who are you calling an old drunk you little punk!"

"I thought it was fairly obvious, please keep up old man."

Kakashi chuckled at the back and forth between the two, "Naruto don't make fun of the client he paid for us to protect him not stage an intervention."

Naruto snickered at the offended look on their client's face but fell silent once more opting to instead focus on the dirt path ahead of them. Like Sakura and Satsuki he'd never been so far out from the village before so he made sure to take in everything. He noted how the trees seemed to grow smaller the further out they went growing shorter and less vibrant, the grass was more sparse and spread out making way for the dirt path leading back to Konoha.

Had he been paying more attention he might have noticed the two still puddles formed at the base of the trees they'd just walked by but in his wonder he'd written them off.

"SENSEI!" Sakura horrified shouting immediately snapped his attention to the back were Kakashi had been walking and his confused expression quickly changed to shock at the sight of a bladed chain digging and ripping into the surprised visage of their masked leader, his sole eye locked into an expression of agony before he was unceremoniously torn to pieces, bloody clothes falling in a messy heap onto the ground.

Out of the shadows stepped two imposing masked figures with horned headbands on their left and right hands respectively were large silver gauntlets tipped with gleaming claws and connected by the now bloody chain, "One down, four to go." they spoke in unison their voices muffled and distorted by their mask as they lumbered toward the group.

Despite the sudden loss of their sensei, Team Seven retained enough sense to place themselves in front of Tazuna, falling into a defensive formation around the terrified man. Each doing their best to avoid looking down at the shredded remains of their sensei and instead, staring down the mysterious killers.

Naruto bit the inside of his cheek using the pain to snap himself out of his shock, if they didn't act they'd die! He quickly glanced to Satsuki who seemed to have come to the same realization and offered a subtle nod his way.

The masked nin grew impatient and with a roar charged forward, intending to use their chains like a portable guillotine and take them all out quickly while they were still reeling.

Naruto and Satsuki blurred into action in response, the Uchiha heiress launched a few kunai between the links of the chain pinning it to the ground and halting the charge. The mystery due cursed and with a soft _***tink***_ the chain dropped from their gauntlets freeing the two to engage with their incoming opponents.

Satsuki jumped over a wild swipe from her enemy and planted her knee firmly into the horned assailant's face with a crisp crunch sending him staggering backward.

"AHH! YOU BITCH!" He let out a furious roared and lept at her, his weaponized arm aimed to gouge her eyes out.

She offered him no response and dodged using her own natural flexibility to weave out of the path of the strike before she spun on her feel delivering a devastating roundhouse kick to his temple sending his body flying into a nearby tree where he remained, motionless.

She scoffed, pathetic trash.

Naruto ducked under a vicious kick from his own opponent and quickly blocked a downward blow from the snarling enemy nin's bladed gauntlet with his kunai sending sparks into the air as the blades ground against one another with a sharp screech.

"You runts just had to struggle, your death could have been quick and painless but you chose to draw this out like fools all for some drunk old man." His enemy glared down into his own defiant gaze as the two struggled to overpower each other.

"Sorry, but if you expect us to let you get in our way you have another thing coming!" Naruto suddenly allowed the masked assailant to overpower him catching the man off guard as he suddenly toppled forward right into the blond's waiting elbow that drove harshly into man's ribs.

He followed up his attack with a sharp uppercut that sent the man reeling and left him open for a full force chakra charged right hook sending him crashing to the ground in an undignified heap out cold.

Suddenly a voice called out, "Well done you three, I'm proud of you."

The trio still on edge whirled around and to their shock and visible relief, Kakashi sat completely unharmed in the branches of a nearby tree, his eyes still locked onto his little orange book as he quietly surveyed the unconscious forms of their attackers.

Sakura, who had been the most shaken about the silver-haired jounin's apparent death was the first to respond, "Sensei! You're alive!" she held her hand over her heart in joy, she didn't know what she would have done if he'd actually died!

Kakashi smiled and waved hopping down from his position in the trees, "Of course I am, I couldn't just leave you all alone like that what kind of sensei would that make me?"

Satsuki frowned, "If you were fine why the act at all?" she asked her brow furrowed in confusion.

Kakashi strolled over, "I wanted to see how you'd handle yourselves without me, if you three froze up I would have taken care of them but you didn't and instead managed to take out the Demon Brothers, two chunin level ninja on your own while still protecting the client. You all did well." He gave them one of his usual eye smiles before turning on the still shaking form of Tazuna.

"Now Tazuna-san, can you explain why you have missing-nin after you?" His tone was even but there was a less than subtle threat woven in that promised general unpleasantness if the answer proved less than ideal.

"I-I don't know, I'm just a bridge builder!"

Kakashi tilted his head to the side, his eye boring into the sweating form of the old man, "Really? Well, in that case, you'll have to see Hokage-sama about getting a higher ranked mission, while capable I think this falls somewhat beyond my cute little genin's paygrade."

Kakashi turned to instruct his squad when Tazuna called out, "Please wait!"

"Hmm? Did you think of something Tazuna-san?"

Tazuna grit his teeth and bowed, "Please! I can't go back without you I'll explain everything but I need your help!" He begged desperation clear in his voice.

Kakashi nodded, "Tell us exactly what's going on and we'll go from there."

Tazuna sighed and sat down, "I wasn't entirely honest about why I wanted to build that bridge, while it is true upon its completion Wave will have the opportunity to grow the real reason is unless I finish my bridge, Wave is doomed..."

"Oi, what do you mean doomed?" Naruto asked.

Tazuna looked up, "A shipping tycoon by the name of Gato is using our island as a base of operations, on paper he's nothing more than wealthy businessman looking to enjoy some peace and quiet, but in reality, he's a cutthroat mobster squeezing the people and the land dry!" Tazuna clenched his fist at just the thought of the man, "He's using our homes isolated position against us and because he controls the harbors no one can get in or out without his notice so we can't request help removing him."

Kakashi nodded, "I see...so if the bridge gets built his hold on the country weakens and so to prevent that he's trying to kill you, that would explain the assassins."

Tazuna sighed once more, "It took all the money our village could spare to afford this mission, please... we don't know what else to do." Tazuna stared pleadingly at the assembled shinobi who were, in turn, looking at one another uncertain of what to do next.

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, "There two were only low to mid chunin at best if this Gato is serious he'll likely have a backup plan." Kakashi didn't doubt that whatever they faced next would make the demon brothers look like a cake walk in comparison.

Satsuki and Naruto had proven themselves capable and even Sakura had managed to avoid completely shutting down when they'd been attacked, but would that be enough against a stronger likely jounin level foe?

He turned to his three charges, "We are under no obligation to continue the mission, at best this has just become at least a B-Rank and at worst A-Rank." Tazuna paled at the masked jounin's words and a look of hopelessness fell across his face.

"However," He paused, "I'll leave it up to you three on what we do. Should we turn back or shall we continue the mission knowing that things will only get tougher from here on out?"

The trio each paused, taking a moment to think over their options, sparing the occasional glance at the desperate face of their client.

Naruto frowned, on one hand, he knew that continuing the mission placed all of their lives at risk and Kakashi had said that they didn't have to continue this mission. On the other hand, could he really just walk away from people who needed help, who were risking their lives and their families to save their home?

No, that wasn't in his nature.

"I say we carry on, we said we'd protect him and we should keep our word." He gave his answer with his usual confidence offering a grin to Tazuna who could only offer a shaky but heartfelt smile back.

Satsuki clicked her teeth, "I don't plan on running away from some businessman and his thugs, and if a real challenge appears all the better." She crossed her arms and nodded, she would carry on as well.

She couldn't get strong enough enact justice for her clan if she ran away at the slightest hint of danger.

Sakura bit her lip, she wasn't sure this was a good idea and honestly, she really wanted to turn around and return to the village but she also didn't want to hold her team back either...

She let out a shaky breath, "I-I agree we should carry on, whatever happens, we'll face it together."

Naruto grinned and offered her a pat on the shoulder and even Satsuki gave her a subtle but approving nod towards the pinkette boosting her confidence somewhat.

Kakashi watched the three inwardly pleased that his team finally seemed to be coming together even if only a little bit, "Very well Tazuna-san it seems you'll be in our care for a while longer."

The older man bowed the brim of his hat touching the ground, "Thank you all so much! You don't know how much this means to not just me but the people of Wave as well!"

Naruto pumped his fist, "No worries old man, we'll help you get that bridge built in no time!"

Kakashi coughed, "First things first we need to figure out how to get into Wave seeing as the harbors are apparently being monitored, Tazuna-san do you have a way back in?"

The man nodded, "A friend of mine is waiting to take us back in his boat, it's not pretty and we'll have to walk through the marshes to make it back undetected but we should be okay."

Kakashi nodded, "Alright you lead the way, hopefully, we can avoid any unnecessary conflict but be on your toes." he warned.

"Um, what are we going to do with them?" Sakura asked gesturing towards the two still unconscious figures beside them.

"I'll leave a marker for an Anbu patrol, they'll handle these two and see if they can gather any information that might be of use." Kakashi said, quickly disarming and retraining the duo before placing a tag covered in intricate seals above them that pulsed with a faint glow.

With their course set, the group continued on their way each preparing themselves for whatever challenges awaited them.

* * *

The rest of the travel had proven miraculously uneventful, they'd managed to meet up with Tazuna's friend with little trouble and had managed to coast over to Wave with little trouble, it had taken them longer than expected since the engine had to remain on low to avoid calling attention to themselves but they'd arrived at the marshlands without incident.

All that was left was reaching Tazuna's home where they could get some rest and set up a base of operations.

"Is it usually this foggy around here old man? I can barely see five feet in front of me." Naruto commented, his eyes squinted as he tried to peer through the dense fog that had rolled in shortly after their arrival into the forested marshlands.

Tazuna seemed just as confused, "I don't recall it being this bad, fog isn't too uncommon here but it seems particularly thick today."

Beside them, Kakashi remained silent his normally ever-present book tucked away as he scanned the mist.

_***Thunk***_

The group jumped a bit as the sound of a kunai striking wood broke the silence, Naruto's outstretched hand marking him as the culprit who was staring off at bush, his eyes narrowed suspicion.

"What was that for you idiot!" Sakura hissed hold her hand over her rapidly beating heart.

Naruto frowned "I thought I saw something moving over there." He walked over the bush he'd flung his kunai at and after a bit of searching pulled out both his kunai and...a snow-white hare?

"You gave us a heart attack of a rabbit?!"

Naruto grinned sheepishly, "In my defense, I technically wasn't wrong when I said I saw movement."

Satsuki rolled her eyes, "Moron."

Kakashi, however, stared at the creature in the boy's arms, why was its coat white? It was the beginning of summer it should have lost its winter coloration by now.

Unless it was kept indoors...

_***Whoosh...whoosh...whoosh...whoosh, whoosh!***_

"DUCK!" Kakashi shouted and dived to the ground tackling Tazuna and Sakura to the ground, while Naruto and Satsuki threw themselves down just in time to avoid being beheaded as a massive cleaver ripped through the mist before embedding itself into a tree behind them.

"Hmph, I missed." A gruff male voice rumbled through the mist as a shadow leaped down onto the hilt of the massive blade, looking down at the assembled team, "Sharingan no Kakashi...no wonder the demon brothers failed."

Satsuki's eyes narrowed at her sensei, why was her sensei given a title based on her clans dojutsu?!

"I don't feel like killing you all so let me make you an offer, hand over the old man and you can all walk away without incident." The tall silhouette of the man spoke, his features obscured by the heavy mist but his voice rung out clearly as though not hindered but the oppressive veil.

Kakashi tensed but otherwise remained calm, "I'm afraid we can't do that, it would be rather professional of us to just hand over our clients like that especially to a stranger."

The figure chuckled, "A stranger? Would you like introductions then?" The man hopped off his sword and without even a grunt of effort, dislodged the blade from its resting place before slinging it onto his shoulder with ease.

Kakashi smiled, "It would be polite."

"Very well."

The mist retreated just a bit, enough for them to finally catch sight of their hidden adversary. He was a tall and noticeably muscular with light grayish skin, short spiky black hair, dark brown eyes, and small eyebrows. His nose and mouth were covered by a swath of bandages and he wore his headband sideways at an angle exposing part of his forehead.

Naruto's eyes widened, with the mist no longer obstructing his view he could immediately recognize the large slab of metal and its bloodthirsty wielder.

"Zabuza Momochi..."

The newly revealed Zabuza quirked an eyebrow, "So you know of me?" He seemed amused by the prospect, "Tell me more brat, what else do you know?"

A subtle pressure fell upon the group, like invisible hands slowly fastening around their throats that could in an instant remove them from their mortal coil in the most brutal fashion possible should it chose.

"A rogue member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Bloody Mist, wielder of the Executioner Blade you graduated from the Mist Shinobi Academy by slaughtering your entire graduating class with a single kunai..." Earning horrified and disgusted looks from the assembled group at that last bit of knowledge.

"Heh." Zabuza laughed, "Well color me impressed Kakashi it looks like perhaps at least one of your brats is taking his career seriously, it would be a shame to cut his journey short. I'll give you one last chance to hand over bridge builder or I'll send you all back in pieces."

Kakashi shook his head, "Even if I wanted to he would never accept that outcome, he's pretty stubborn like that. He subtly drew a kunai and raised his headband revealing a crimson eye with three spinning tomoe marks.

Before the Uchiha heiress could utter a word Kakashi beat her to the punch, "I'll explain later, focus on the bigger problem." He would explain himself later but right now they needed to get out of here alive.

Satsuki frowned but acknowledge the command but she would be getting her answers later one way or another.

"So be it." The man growled and with a single hand sign, the hazy mist thickened leaving Team Seven blinded once more and on edge. Zabuza's laughter echoed through the fog taunting them and setting their hairs on end the sound of his sword scraping against the ground and trees faded in and out, approaching then retreating further setting them on edge.

"Spine, larynx, lungs, liver, jugular, kidneys, subclavian artery, heart...how should I _gut_ you all?" The pressure grew and with each word and Team Seven began to see flashes of their own deaths, despair growing in the pits of their stomachs.

Sakura appeared on the verge of tears, her eyes misty and her body shaking heavily, the kunai she'd gripped for defense had long ago dropped uselessly into the dirt at her feet as she struggled to keep the contents of her stomach in place as the gruesome images assaulted her.

Satsuki gripped her own kunai so hard her knuckles turned white, her gaze becoming unfocused as though viewing a distant traumatic memory, her breathing growing heavy and labored in response.

Naruto grit his teeth, as the familiar sensation weighed upon his shoulders, the mist around him seemingly twisting and warping into the shape of foxes snarling maw.

_**"How pathetic, **__the Kyuubi sneered,__** "You don't even have the strength to stand before me, do you?"**_

_Was he still truly this weak?! All this time and nothing had changed..._

The three were given a reprieve as Kakashi sent a pulse of his own chakra through the mist, alleviating some of the killing intent, "Don't worry you three I won't let any of my comrades die on my watch." He called out through the mist.

His words and actions helped calm them slightly, the pressure receding just enough that they were no longer being bombarded with visions of death, the trio were still shaken but they were back in the fight once more.

"Living up to those Konoha values...how cute." Zabuza's spoke through the mist, sarcasm-laced heavily through his words, "Let's see if you can back up your talk!"

The trio was caught off guard as Zabuza appeared between them suddenly his large form slipping between their positions with unnatural ease, his cleaver arcing down to cut them all down faster than they could react.

_***Clang!***_

Steel ground against steel as Kakashi managed to catch the massive blade against two of his own kunai stopping the metal slab inches from their heads.

"Tsk!" Zabuza pushed his blade harder lighting the mist up in a shower of sparks as the two Jounin level ninja pushed against each other neither giving any quarter. Kakashi narrowed his eyes, his Sharingan spinning rapidly looking for an opening.

Leaning to the side, he allowed the blade to crash into the dirt by his foot and drove his own blade into the throat of his opponent, the knife sliding with little resistance into the bandaged wrapped neck of the mercenary.

However, instead of the crimson life liquid that he'd expected clear streams of water trailed along the edge of his kunai and down his arm, the form of Zabuza shuddering before collapsing into a puddle.

"Sensei behind you!"

The trio watched in shock as their sensei was cleaved in two, the butcher's blade tearing through the silver-haired jounin like wet paper coating the ground in a violent spray of liquid.

_***Splash!***_

Kakashi's body turned into a puddle of water, and Zabuza grunted as he felt a blade slide in between his ribs, "Y-You copied m-my technique even i-in this mist?"

Kakashi drove his blade deeper into the wound, "This eye of mine has its perks." He answered simply twisting the knife.

Zabuza chuckled weakly, "I see..." he gave a final sigh before once more his form wavered and collapsed revealing him to be another Water Clone.

Kakashi's danger sense flared up and he instinctively ducked, barely avoiding having his head lopped off but positioning him in place to get caught by a kick to the face that sent him skidding along the ground and into the nearby waters of the marsh.

"You're mine!" Zabuza growled and shoved his fist into the water where Kakashi had just crashed, **"_Water Style: Water Prison no Jutsu!_"**

Kakashi felt the water constrict around him forming a bubble around and cutting off his access to oxygen and restricting his movement as the chakra saturated water dragged at his limbs making fighting against it near impossible.

He was trapped and his genin were stuck alone with this monster!

Kakashi turned to his students from within his prison, "You three need to run! He has to stay here to hold me, take Tazuna and get as far as you can!" He cried praying that his team would be able to get far enough that they could escape.

Naruto clenched his fist, "We can't just leave you to die!" Kakashi had drilled into them never to abandon a teammate and now he just expected them to leave him to die!

"This is an order Naruto! I will not have you throwing your lives away take the client and get out of here now!"

Zabuza laughed at the drama playing out before him, "You were right about him being a stubborn one, I'd be impressed if he wasn't so stupid." Zabuza turned to face the three hesitant genin. "This is what happens when you go around playing ninja, you put on those headbands but you have no idea what it means to be a true shinobi." He mocked with open disgust in his tone.

He glared at them raw bloodlust radiating from his gaze, "I can see it on your faces, none of you have even taken a life yet, have you? You've never had to face yourself in the mirror with someone else's blood on your hands but you stand there and dare to call yourself Ninja?!

The venom in his voice was palpable as the three were given a harsh look at the reality of their profession.

Zabuza brought up his free hand in a half seal, "Maybe just before you move onto the next life, you'll understand just what it means to be a shinobi." From the waters beneath him two more water clones rose, each with a copy of the Executioner blade draped over their shoulder.

"Satsuki, you ready?" Naruto called, his eyes narrowed on the two clones slowly approaching them his earlier fear pushed to the side in light of their situation, without Kakashi their chances of survival were near zero orders or not they had to try something!

The Uchiha heiress scoffed falling into her stance once more, "That doesn't matter, ready or not we don't have much choice what do you have in mind?." Her voice was level, even if her hands were still shaking.

"Bell strategy." Was his simple answer as he readied himself for combat,

"Fine, just don't screw it up." She snarked before launching herself forward, racing to meet the clone on the left head on.

"I was just about to say the same to you." And he rushed the clone to the right.

Satsuki dodged an overhead swing from her clone and lashed out with a hail of shuriken forcing the copy to use his blade as shield giving her the opportunity to use the elongated hilt as a jumping point and launching herself into the air just barely avoiding a retaliatory upswing from the doppelgangers sword by a hairs width.

Quickly reaching into her pouch and pulling out two more kunai wrapped in explosive tags she threw them down at the feet of her, the tags glowing a bright orange as energy surged through the matrix and forcing the clone to hurridly leap back towards the center of the clearing, once more using the blade like a makeshift shield to protect itself from the incoming explosion.

_***Boom!***_

Meanwhile, Naruto was locked into a taijutsu battle with his own clone, his natural strength, and resilience keeping the two somewhat evenly matched.

Blocking a punch to his face Naruto roared and let out a pulse of his chakra the usual shockwave from releasing his full reserves catching the clone off guard with the sudden energy burst and leaving it open for a savage punch from the blond, a fist coated in roaring blue flames of condensed chakra slamming into his opponent like a train, launching him back.

Right into Satsuki's copy.

The two collided with a thud, the first having not expected his double to come flying at him combined with the residual force of the explosion lessening his control of his own in air movement he couldn't correct in time.

_**"Fire Style: Grand Fireball no jutsu!/Water Style: Water Bullet no Jutsu!"**_

Zabuza watched with visible surprise as his clones were engulfed by the steam of the two colliding techniques, fire and water evenly matched obscuring his view of two younger ninjas.

It seems like they had a few more tricks than he'd been expecting.

His eyes widened as a giant Fuma shuriken came flying out of the cloud racing towards him the sheen of the massive shuriken gleaming as it cut through the moisture like a knife through butter.

Crafty, but not good enough!

Zabuza hopped up tucking his legs and allowing the metal star to fly harmlessly under him, his hand still firmly planted in the water prison keeping Kakashi locked away.

_***Poof***_

Just as the shuriken flew by it went up in smoke revealing the grinning face of the whisker blond, his hand filled with an assortment of tagged kunai and shuriken that he flung gleefully at the mercs unprotected back.

Zabuza grit his teeth, he could risk being blown to bits or letting go of the prison.

_Those fucking runts!_

Quickly removing his arm he pulled his sword out and place it in front of himself but to his shock right before they hit they went up in smoke, blinding him momentarily in the haze.

Just long enough for Kakashi to not only escape but strike at his unprotected side, his foot crashing harshly into his ribs sending him crashing into the shore.

Kakashi jumped back onto land his chest heaving as he took in the air he'd been deprived of during his capture. His genin flanking him happy to see that he'd escaped unharmed.

"Naruto, Satsuki thank you," He smiled at the two who in turn shot him a cheeky grin and smug smirk respectively, "Leave the rest to me."

They nodded and fell back allowing Kakashi to face Zabuza alone once more.

"Kakashi...I'm going to butcher those brats of yours." The man snarled, using his blade as a crutch to pull himself up.

"Seeing that performance, I'm not sure you're on their level anymore." Kakashi taunted readying himself once more.

Sheathing his blade Zabuza glared at the copy ninja, "Then let me remind you what you're dealing with!" and quickly summoning his remain chakra began running through hand seals rapidly.

_**Ox → Monkey → Hare → Rat → Boar → Bird → Ox → Horse...**_

Kakashi followed suit his sharingan practically glowing as he copied the seals of his opponent

_**Bird → Rat → Tiger → Dog → Tiger → Snake → Ox → Ram → Snake → Boar → Ram → Rat → Yang Water...**_

Zabuza watched with fury and confusion as Kakashi's seals began to catch up their fingers a blur as they raced to complete the move that would decide the outcome of this battle.

_How could he copy it that fast?!_

_**Monkey → Bird → Dragon → Bird → Ox → Horse → Ram → Tiger → Snake → Rat → Monkey → Hare → Boar...**_

Behind them, the water began to churn violently as their chakra fought for dominance over the technique each struggling to overtake the other and command the jutsu for themselves.

_**Dragon → Ram → Rat → Ox → Monkey → Bird → Yang Water → Rat → Boar → Bird!**_

_**"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet no Jutsu!"**_

"How?!" Zabuza screamed as Kakashi managed to complete the technique first the violent waves rising into the air behind them twisting and writhing until it vaguely resembled the shape of a serpentine-like dragon. The liquid construct let out a deafening roar reminiscent of violent tides before slamming down onto Zabuza without mercy, the ground beneath shaking at the force of the impact.

Kakashi waited for a few moments for the water to disperse before pulling out another kunai and approaching the struggling form of Zabuza who had just managed to avoid being washed away but clearly hadn't escaped unscathed, his limbs trembling as he tried vainly to pull himself back up.

Zabuza stared into the hypnotizing gaze of Kakashi's Sharingan, black meeting red before a sharp pain lodged itself into his neck and darkness swiftly overtook him.

Kakashi watched silently as a masked ninja dropped down in front of him blocking his path to Zabuza's downed body, three almost hair-thin needles sticking out of the man's neck.

The masked-nin turned and spoke, "Thank you for taking down Momochi-san, however his body and its secrets are the property of Kiri and so I must ask you to stand down." Kakashi wasn't sure the gender of the ninja in front of him but they sounded young, much younger than any hunter-nin he'd met.

It was humbling to think there were ninja out there as young as his genin but stronger than him...

Kakashi nodded, he was in no condition to go picking any fight, right now he just wanted to get to his team to safety and rest.

The masked hunter slung the body over onto his shoulders, cleaver and all before vanishing leaving no trace of their presence other than a slight indent in the ground where they'd briefly stood.

Kakashi's shoulders slumped once he was sure they were alone once again, his vision blurring as he trudged over to his before at least the strain of combat caught him and he collapsed, the last thing he heard was their concerned shouts before he hit the ground.

_At least they were safe..._

* * *

**AN. Chapter Complete!**

**I know this was a little shorter but I think it was better to cut it off here rather than have them anticlimactically meet Tazuna's family and then end it. I don't want to artificially extend chapters just for the sake of hitting an arbitrary word count the last two chapters had to be long because they were very specifically designed to be one and done whereas this is an ark so I can afford to pace it out more.**

**I also have an update going up shortly after this as well so that kinda eats into it too. (This isn't a bad update so no worries!)**

**Now onto our usual routine, time to clarify for people who have questions! This one will be pretty short since I think this chapter is pretty clear.**

_**First up, why does this chapter seem to move really fast compared to other chapters?**_

**Well at this point everyone and their mother knows about how the Wave Ark begins so I didn't see the need to bore people with details they'd likely skip over or already know. I tend to explain things that I tweak or plan to flesh out later, like how chakra works or different fighting styles. Since I didn't change the setup to the Wave Mission I decided it would be a better use of time to move the story forward over being super detailed about the different types of trees that grew in wave compared to Konoha or something needless like that.**

**I had planned for them to do a different mission that would lead them to wave but decided against it since I already used two chapters on Teams Eight and Ten and figured people would to see us move into more familiar territory for a bit I also am trying to balance out the pacing more so we won't still be on this story five years from now lol.**

_**Second, why did you leave Naruto's perspective so much?**_

**It was easier to explain the situation at this point by focusing on everyone's shifting perspective, Naruto will return to being the center of the story when he needs to be (interactions with the people of Wave, Haku, building on his and Satsuki's relationship, etc) so just give it some time.**

_**Third, why doesn't Sakura do much this chapter?**_

**What skills does she have right now exactly? I'm not even saying that to bash her character she is just way behind both her teammates right now, a point that I'm stressing so that she can grow later but for right now if you absolutely love Sakura and are disappointed she's not getting a bigger fight scene presence you'll have to wait a bit longer.**

**fourth, Naruto and Satsuki seem a bit stronger than normal, I thought you weren't going with overpowered characters?**

**I don't think anything they did in this chapter wasn't believable, the Demon Brothers were never really portrayed as a huge threat and with a stronger more competent Naruto and in turn a stronger Satsuki (rivals), they were not going to be very challenging **

_**Well, what about the Zabuza clones?**_

**If you check Water Clones are only about a tenth as strong as their creator, so while yes they are still going to be capable they aren't representative of Zabuza's actually strength or ability and they were taken out in part due to underestimating their opponents, its like when your play fighting with a child even though they are small if you aren't paying attention they can still find a way to actually hurt you. They also were defeated by a combo move not individually being much stronger than their opponents.**

**Why is Satsuki slighter kinder and more agreeable?**

**I think a lot of people have kind of defaulted Sasuke's personally to being a selfish, entitled, irredeemable bastard. Granted he has earned a lot of that reputation, however, I think fics have also kinda made his portrayal worse by having him get shown up one time in the Academy by Naruto and immediately having him be like,**

**"I'll kill him for beating me in a taijutsu spar and steal all his power, women, money, etc!"**

**I understand why people don't like him, I don't even like him all that much but I think some people go a bit far with it... ****(It's their story though and I'm not judging or attacking them just making an observation.)**

**Anyway, Satsuki isn't heartless or anything she's distant and driven. In turn that makes it hard for her to care much about people not on her level but that doesn't mean she doesn't care at all. She's not a complete stubborn asshole/bitch but she still has some of what makes Sasuke, Sasuke.**

_**Why does Naruto still freeze at killing intent?**_

**Okay, I know some people are going to jump on me for this (the same thing happened with people wondering why I made Naruto almost crap himself in front of the Kyuubi so I just expect it.)**

**Naruto has dealt with genuine killing intent ONCE! Killing intent is the actual projection of raw malice and hatred designed to intimidate, it's not something you experience one time and then are suddenly unaffected by. Kyuubi was/is so full of hatred it a wonder I didn't make the effects worse and Zabuza is particularly skilled with using it so yes, Naruto is going to freeze up a bit but he clearly did better than before and in time will shrug it off with ease but he's still early in his career (even if this story is long due to my pacing problems lol) so give it a bit.**

**With that said I think I covered everything I needed, any other questions you can leave in the reviews and I'll answer it.**

**Lastly more Harem info and other stuff pertaining to this story.**

**I will actually not be talking about the harem here but rather in the update that will be going up with or shortly after this chapter goes up. Looking back I think the harem information has gotten kinda muddled with different chapters having different pieces of info so I am going to make one chapter that covers all of it up to this point so everyone knows what's going on. I will also be covering some questions I received in regards to how my second story might impact this one.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you all in the update and the next chapter!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but please enjoy the story!**

**AN. Hello everyone! Sorry it's been so dang long but I had life stuff (College Finals) that pretty much took up all my time after my last story updates. After my finals which were very writing intensive for some reason I just wanted to step away from writing for a bit and relax so my bad.**

**I am back though and finally got this done, it had been a while so I admit I am a little rusty when it comes to writing and remembering some of my old ideas so apologies if this chapter is a bit wonky but I should be back to 100% soon hopefully! I will admit that I am currently rather busy so my writing time has been cut down a lot so chapters might become a bit shorter from time to time but I will work to get in longer ones where I can and where appropriate.**

** Also for those curious or following my other story the next chapter to "Trials of Paradise" is almost done and will probably go up in a few days!**

* * *

Naruto, Sakura, and Satsuki sat quietly around the still unconscious form of their sensei, each unsure of how to proceed without the guidance of their leader and the lingering unease of their first real brush with the possibility of death had left the three humbled and withdrawn.

With Zabuza out of the picture, the trio had rushed to Tazuna's home in a bid to avoid any more conflict and have some measure of safety while they waited for Kakashi to recover enough to give them a rundown on what to do next.

Thankfully, they had arrived with no delays and were quickly able to set Kakashi up in one of the home's spare rooms with the help of Tazuna's daughter, a woman named Tsunami, who had been suspicious of them at first but had quickly changed her tune upon seeing her father alongside them.

The three had hoped with a good rest Kakashi might regain consciousness, but it seemed the silver-haired jounin had taken far more punishment than they'd initially thought and didn't seem like he'd be waking up anytime soon much to their dismay.

So, here they sat each with a hundred thoughts running through their minds but no way to express them.

Sakura was first to break the uneasy silence, her words tumbling out in a faint whisper, "What do we do now?..." Where were they supposed to go from here? What if there were more hired thugs? What if Gato attacked the house?!

Of the three of them, she had been the most shaken by their encounter by far, having been coddled and sheltered for her entire life she had never truly considered just what she signed up for when she put her headband on.

Perhaps she'd made the wrong choice...

Satsuki looked up from her brooding with a scowl, even with their victory her mood had been soured by her own helplessness during the encounter, having had to rely once more on others for help. Added to that, the encounter had brought up some rather personal memories...

Memories she'd wanted to keep buried for as long as possible.

"Why do you think we know?" She sneered earning a flinch from the pink hair girl at the acid in her tone, "Why don't you use those grades you were so proud of and try making yourself useful for once, instead of relying on us for everything like you always do."

Sakura looked like she'd been struck by the unexpected vitriol spewed her way, green eyes pooling with tears at her raven-haired teammate's sudden and harsh words, she bowed her head and offered a choked apology before falling silent once more.

"Satsuki that was uncalled for," Naruto glared hard at the irate Uchiha, "We have enough concerns without adding to them, she's your teammate, not your enemy."

Satsuki sucked her teeth but said nothing, instead choosing to simply get up and leave, the soft pattering of her feet fading off into the distance leaving the two of them alone.

He sighed at the heiress's attitude before turning back to his shivering teammate her lithe frame shaking as she struggled to hold back her sobs.

_Freaking wonderful..._

He quickly scooted himself next to her and without warning gently wrapped one arm around her in a sort of halfway hug offering some measure of support, she stiffed in his grasp but made no move to push him off.

She must really have taken those words hard.

"You know she doesn't really mean that..." He spoke softly, pulling the smaller girl against his side, "She's never been the best at talking with people, hell you should see her try and give a compliment I don't think I'd ever been more insulted." He joked trying to lighten the mood.

Sakura laughed but it was a bitter laugh, "She right though, I am useless I can't do anything..." She shook her head and her hands balled into tight fists as she looked down at the ground.

"I did nothing during the bell test, I was useless when the Demon Brothers attacked, I couldn't help free sensei, and now I don't even know what to do without Kakashi here..." She looked up and he could see all the doubt she carried, the regrets she had and for the first time, he felt like he was seeing the real Sakura or at least a part of her.

A part she'd been struggling with for a while now.

He looked her in the eyes blue meeting emerald, "Then what are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know, what can I do?", She frowned as she went over what little value she had, "I'm not from some strong clan I don't have any special abilities, and all I do have is this stupidly large forehead and the brightest hair color I've ever seen." She lamented tugging at a long strand of her bubblegum pink locks.

Despite himself, he couldn't help but chuckle at her last points earning him an elbow to his ribs but he smiled hearing her laugh quietly alongside him

He leaned against her slightly, "Well for what it's worth I don't think your forehead is _that_ big." He poked it as he said that earning a pout from her, "And the hair isn't too bad I mean I have bright blond hair so it's not like you're alone there."

"Ino has blond hair too though." She pointed out.

"Pssh, my hair is way better gold beats platinum any day and you can tell her I said it!" He proclaimed puffing up his chest in pride.

She snorted, "I'll keep that in mind."

He quickly deflated, "Please don't actually tell her that..." Ino was well known for the unnatural amount of time and care she put into her hair if she found out about what he said...

He shuddered a bit at the thought

Sakura laughed at his antics, her tears had dried up during their talk much to his relief, "And who said you need to be from a big clan to be strong? I'd like to think I can handle myself pretty well ya know."

She frowned, "I'm not like you though," Her voice was quiet, "You always seem so sure of yourself, you never hesitate and even when you're wrong you don't hold back. I'm nothing like that..."

She'd tried to ignore her doubts, she truly had but with every meeting, every spar, even every conversation she had to face the fact that she was just...less than they were.

Her smarts had flourished in the academy, reassuring her that maybe things would be okay even if she wasn't a powerhouse, brains over brawn and all that.

But without any actual skills to back her up, what was all the knowledge in the world worth?

Very little from her own experience.

Sakura hissed when a small pain erupted in her side, turning her eyes back to blond next to her she saw that he'd pinched her.

"I didn't take you for an idiot Sakura." He said ignoring the indignant look building in her eyes, "If you don't like where you are then the solution is obvious." He offered a simple smile.

"Become better."

She frowned, "You say that like it's so easy..."

He nudged her, "Who said it was supposed to be?" He looked up to the ceiling, "Our lives are on the line so I don't know about you but I think that warrants busting my ass to make sure that I can stand up to anything."

"And if that's not enough?"

He laughed offering her a wild grin, "Then go down making sure that world remembers your name!"

Sakura stared at the blond at her side, really studying the whiskered boy she'd been stuck with through a new lens, not one of rumor but one of experience. Was this the real Naruto? Someone who reveled in uncertainty?

Every journey started with a step, could she take it? Could she walk a similar path?

"Naruto...would you..."

Naruto blinked, "Eh? Speak up Sakura-chan."

Sakura took a breath and stilled herself, "Would you..would you be willing to train me or at least help me start?"

He looked at her in surprise, of all the outcomes he'd expected this wasn't one of them...

He could plainly see her hesitation, but beyond that, he also saw a newborn spark of determination in those emerald eyes of hers. He couldn't help but be reminded of himself and he wondered if he'd worn that same expression so many years ago when he'd first started on his own path.

Heh, he felt like an old man now.

"Are you sure that's what you want?" He wanted her to be sure of her choice, he would fully admit his methods weren't for everyone

Sakura paused taking a moment to really consider her request, she knew had no right to ask this of him not with the way she'd treated him in the past even if they were on better terms. Now here she was asking him to cut into his own training to bring her to an acceptable level, where she should have been at graduation...

She bowed her head to him, a gesture of respect and a tacit admission of her own weakness, "If you will take me, I promise I won't back down!" She proclaimed her voice strong and sturdy, she refused to fall behind any more!

Naruto smiled and patted her on the shoulder, "I'll hold you to that, we'll work out the details after Kakashi wakes up when we have time."

Sakura sighed in relief and too his shock quickly embraced him, her head resting gently against his chest, "Thank you...for everything." Her words were quiet, muffled by the fabric of his jacket but he heard them nonetheless and smiled.

"We're teammates, aren't we? I'll always have you back that's an Uzumaki promise!"

She giggled and pushed him away, "That's so cheesy, honestly you're such a dork!" but there was no malic in her words rather she found that promise comforting and for the first time since their formation she didn't feel quite so alone anymore...

_Never change, Naruto..._

* * *

***Thud!...Thud!...Thud!...**_**CRACK!**_*****

"You know, I don't think trying to break your hand against the trees is the smartest move right now, Princess."

Satsuki scowled deepened if possible at the interruption pausing in her strikes against the nearby tree she was assaulting, "What do you want? If you're here to try and make me apologize for being honest you might as well go back inside."

Naruto sighed and shook his head, "I'm not here for that, though you should still apologize I'm not here to try and force you." He walked forward, "Sakura and I came up with a plan to hold us over until Kakashi wakes up and we need you."

The Uchiha heiress turned to face him, "So she took my advice then, what exactly did you two come up with?" This was still a mission and while she had her grievances she wasn't going to jeopardize their efforts.

Naruto leaned against one of the nearby trees and began the rundown of their next step, "Until Kakashi is back up and running to give us more direct instruction we have three main objectives. The first is fairly obvious, protect Tazuna and his family at all costs until the bridge is complete."

Seeing her following along Naruto continued and held up two fingers, "The second is fortifying out position, Tazuna's home isn't exactly hidden and it's entirely possible that Gato could send some hired thugs or Kami forbid another missing-nin to finish the job." He explained.

Satsuki shifted and crossed her arms, "What do you have in mind for the fortifications?"

Naruto grinned, "Sakura is currently taking inventory of our supplies to see what we can spare to use for some rudimentary but effective traps, they should be more than enough for some untrained bandits and will help slow down any lower level ninja."

"I'll also be having henged clones scattered about the surrounding forest that will report any intruders or suspicious activity." He finished earning a nod from the heiress.

"I take it our third task is why you need me?" She inquired.

He nodded, "Our third objective is information gathering, right now we are at a disadvantage and the only people who know the island are Tazuna and his family." He frowned but continued, "We don't know what kind of force Gato has at his disposal so you and I will be going on some preliminary scans of the town."

Satsuki frowned, "Why not have your clones do that as well?"

He shook his head, "I don't want to run the risk of having any of my clones discovered, better for us to go disguised together than to have my clones running around the island and possibly getting caught."

She sucked her teeth but accepted the explanation, the more bodies moving around the greater the chance someone could catch on.

"When do we leave?"

"In about an hour, we both stand out too much so we'll be going under a henge and hopefully we'll be able to blend in without too much notice.

Satsuki nodded returned to her training, she would be ready.

* * *

When Tazuna said Wave was in a bad spot, they hadn't really grasped just how out of sorts things really were.

The village was quiet, not a sleepy little town sort of quiet but rather a heavy unnatural silence that made their hair stand on end. The streets while not overflowing with people had small pockets of villagers scattered about but the silence seemed to weigh on them as well as the spoke in hushed tones and their eyes darted around fearfully every so often.

The people were in rags that could only just barely be counted as clothing and they could see shop owners desperately trying to peddle their wares to no avail, some didn't even bother opening up shop knowing full well there would be no customers.

They really were prisoners in their own home...

On the upside for them it seemed Gato either didn't like to hire shinobi or he kept them close to his main base since all they had bumped into so far had been a few patrolling thugs, barely worth their notice and a minimal threat at worst but more than enough to keep the average villager in line.

Using the crowds the two were currently shadowing a pair of unaware goons chatting amongst themselves as they patrolled the seedier parts of the village.

"I heard the so-called 'Demon' failed the boss, that true?" The first thug asked, a nondescript man with brown hair and a small scar on his right cheek carrying a mace by his hip and cigarette in his free hand.

The second thug, a black-haired man with a rather large nose and a sword took a sip from a silver flask before answering, "Apparently, didn't see it myself but some of the boys say the sorry shit came back half dead!" He gave a short laughed and took another swig.

The first thug frowned, "Did he actually die though?"

"I doubt it, those ninja fucks are hard to kill but damn if it isn't good to see the big bad 'Demon' get knocked down a peg, did you know he killed Ichiro over a fucking bottle of sake?!"

"That's where he went?!" The first thug sucked his teeth, "I don't know why boss keeps him around."

"Use your head," The thug shoved his partner, "The only person who could do that to a ninja would be another ninja so clearly that old bastard Tazuna got some major protection."

"So why don't we just storm their house? One of these townies probably knows where he is and hell boss will probably promote us if we bring him the old man!" The first thug grinned patting his mace with malic.

"Didn't know you were that stupid, Goji." The second thug scowled, "What do you think will happen to us if we run into whoever put Zabuza out on his ass? If you are so eager to die be my guest but you can fuck off if you think I'm going to die for a pay raise."

"Shit...you're right, I wasn't thinking."

"Exactly, you weren't, now hurry it up I'm almost out of sake and I don't think I could deal with you sober."

The two didn't notice the shadows behind them break away and fade back into the crowd...

"What do you mean Zabuza is still alive?!" Sakura looked between her two teammates with worry, the duo had made their back to the home with grim expressions and had quickly stolen her away to reveal their findings.

Satsuki growled, "We mean exactly what we said, we have reason to believe that Zabuza didn't die in his fight with Kakashi-sensei and is instead holed up somewhere recovering."

Sakura looked to her blond teammate, "Are you absolutely sure? They might have been wrong about Zabuza's condition!"

Naruto shook his head, "They way they spoke made it seem pretty certain that somehow Zabuza didn't die in the fight, and even if they are wrong we have to assume that they aren't and prepare for the reality Zabuza is still out there."

They couldn't ignore even the rumor of their opponent being alive, to dismiss it would be foolish especially since they never saw what happened to the body.

He continued, "That also likely makes the masked nin that grabbed Zabuza's body an accomplice, one skilled enough to fool sensei..."

That meant at the very least they had two hostile shinobi to contend with and they weren't sure how skilled their mystery-nin truly was.

Satsuki looked to him, "So what do you suggest we do now?" She would allow herself to defer to his judgment seeing as he'd been the one to mobilize them.

He sighed and scratched his head, "There isn't much we can do if it was just Zabuza I might have suggested attacking while he was weakened but with another shinobi by his side that isn't feasible and it might even spur Gato to retaliate and attack the village."

They were essentially locked in a stalemate Zabuza couldn't attack them in his state, but they couldn't strike back without risking the lives of the town and possibly their own at the hands of his accomplice.

_***Knock Knock***_

The three were broken from their discussion by Tsunami peeking her head into the room from the door, "Sorry to interrupt, but your leader appears to be waking and I thought you might wish to see him." She informed them softly.

The trio scrambled to their feet offering hasty thank yous and quickly made their way to the guest room housing their sensei who true to the woman's word was stirring slowly from his slumber his single uncovered eye fluttering slightly as he adjusted to the light of the room.

The three seated themselves around him as Kakashi gained his bearings before taking note of them.

"You all are okay...that's good..." He offered them a weak smile and the trio gave him matching grins in return, well he and Sakura did Satsuki just gave her usual haughty smirk.

"How long have I been out?" Kakashi questioned, he needed to get a handle on the situation.

Naruto chose to answer, "You've been asleep for about a day, give or take a few hours." The jounin nodded mutely at that, it made sense seeing as even now his body demanded he return to resting but unfortunately that wasn't an option available to him.

"Have you three experienced any problems in my absence?"

At this, the trio lost their smiles and turned serious, "While things have been quiet Satsuki and I discovered that there is a very high chance Zabuza is still alive and likely has an accomplice in that masked-nin that grabbed his body after your fight."

Kakashi sighed and closed his eye his sharingan having burned the encounter into his mind he quickly replayed the end of the fight and frowned. Looking back on the end of that confrontation there was something...off about it.

"Zabuza...is definitely alive." He spoke up confirming their theory.

Sakura who was now visibly upset spoke up, "But how sensei?"

Kakashi shifted in his bed, "I never landed the final blow on Zabuza, this masked partner of his put Zabuza down using an unusual method for a hunter-nin. He used senbon, weapons not known for their lethality but rather for medical purposes, its likely Zabuza was put in a deathlike state that managed to fool even me."

The trio fell silent at the explanation and the now confirmed knowledge that would likely once again have to face the terrifying blade-wielding shinobi.

Kakashi coughed bringing their attention back to him, "Conflict is inevitable, but I won't have you three going in unprepared, starting tomorrow we will begin training. I will handle Zabuza but hopefully you three will be able to handle his partner with your teamwork.

The trio nodded and Kakashi turned serious once more forcing himself to sit up, "Now, give me the full rundown on the situation."

They told him everything they'd learned...

* * *

True to his word Kakashi, sporting a pair of crutches Tazuna lent him, had them up bright and early for their supposed training bringing them out into the forests surrounding the family's home, far enough away to be undisturbed but close enough that they could make it back quickly if need be.

"Alright my cute little genin, today's lesson is..." He gestured to the three trees in front of them, "Tree climbing!"

Naruto blinked in surprise and raised his hand, "Sensei I already know this exercise."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Then would you kindly demonstrate it for us?" It wasn't uncommon for genin to learn the tree climbing technique early though it was usually clan children who'd been given slightly more advanced lessons or special cases.

Naruto nodded and approached the tree before him and summoned a smidgen of his chakra, which was honestly still quite a bit, and placed his foot against the wood and slowly but surely began walking along the surface of the tree stopping at the first branch to look down at his team.

He'd actually only picked the exercise shortly before Kakashi's return when he'd noticed his control slipping, he'd been able to borrow some books on chakra control and stumbled across the wall walking technique by accident. It had taken a few days of nonstop practice but he was fairly proficient with it now.

Sakura seemed shocked by the ability and Satsuki frowned at the display but gained a determined glint in her eyes to master this newfound skill.

The jounin smiled, "Well then, since you are so far ahead I'll explain the exercise to your teammates and I'll find something else for you to practice in the meantime."

Kakashi turned back to his remaining students, "As Naruto so helpfully demonstrated you'll be climbing these trees without using your hands but your chakra. Simply gather the required amount to the soles of your feet and begin walking, if you are doing it correctly you'll stick to the tree but if you use too little or too much chakra you'll fail."

From his position on the tree Naruto nodded along, he'd been firmly in the latter camp though Kakashi failed to mention using too much would result in being blasted off the tree.

_Come on Princess don't disappoint, this would be hilarious!_

Kakashi threw a kunai to each of them, "Use these to mark your progress, and the one tip I can offer you is a running start is recommended, just try not to run right into the tree.

Naruto watched as Sakura attempted the exercise first and to their combined surprise actually managed to get the hang of the technique on her first go, she was a little wobbly but quickly stabilized and sat on the branch across from him.

"Good job Sakura looks like your last up Satsuki," Kakashi commented, curious to see how the so-called prodigy would fair.

Satsuki grunted and sprinted at the tree her feet glowing subtly with her own chakra, the dull thunk of her sandals hitting wood rang out through the clearing as the heiress took a few steps before she had to push off the tree trunk when she felt herself beginning to slip.

Damn it, he wanted to see her go flying...

"Looks like you'll have to play catch up with your teammates, Satsuki-chan." Kakashi joked earning a venomous glare from said girl who seemed to only grow more frustrated at the idea of being behind both her teammates.

Naruto was begrudgingly acceptable, but Sakura?

Absolutely not!

Seeing as the Uchiha heiress was now flinging herself at her chosen practice tree he decided to address his other two students, "Sakura I want you to keep practicing this exercise, it will help build up your reserves and endurance. Naruto, come with me and we'll see about getting you something to do."

Sakura frowned at having to continue the exercise but nodded and joined Satsuki jogging up and down her tree taking care not to go too high though lest she falls, she'd rather not take the risk and kiss dirt from all the way up here.

Naruto waved farewell to his team and followed Kakashi deeper into the woods and into yet another empty clearing, this one a little smaller than the previous but still spacious enough for training.

Kakashi stopped and turned to face his blond charge, "Since you are a little bit ahead of your teammates I think it would be a good idea to give you a bit more utility in your arsenal so I'll teach you one jutsu in an element of your choosing."

Naruto's eyes widened and his answer was immediate, "I'd like to learn a wind release technique if possible."

Kakashi was surprised, he'd actually expected the blond to request another water release ninjutsu or perhaps a fire jutsu to compete with his teammate. "Why wind specifically?"

Naruto crossed his arms and explained, "My primary affinity is wind but the library doesn't have much on wind release so I've focused more on my secondary water affinity. I can get more water ninjutsu in the village so I'd like to have at least one technique in my for my main element."

Kakashi was thrown for a bit of a loop, his student not only knew his affinities but already had two? Had he started elemental training already?

"Well alright then, while I'm not very well versed in wind release I do have a technique I can teach you. This is a C-Rank jutsu and while it is not complicated don't underestimate its usefulness." Kakashi made his way to the center of the clearing before running through the necessary hand signs.

_**Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake!**_

_**"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**_

Naruto watched as a powerful gust of wind left Kakashi's masked lips and slammed into the treeline before them actually bending the trees slightly and ripping the leaves right off the closest trees.

Kakashi panted as he brought his breathing under control, even when keeping the power relatively low the jutsu was still taxing on him in his state.

"The Great Breakthrough is a short-range technique but depending on the power and skill of the user can be incredibly powerful. I've seen how creative you can be with your jutsu so I'm interested to see what you'll come up with should you get this down."

Kakashi limped his way out of the clearing, "I'll be back resting remember not to push yourself too hard out here."

Naruto watched the man leave before turning to face the now barren trees.

_So that was the power of wind release..._

He couldn't help the excitement rushing through him as he ran through the hand signs and calling upon his chakra.

_**"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**_

***Bang!***

He didn't have time to register the jutsu imploding in his face but he sure as hell registered the sensation of his body being thrown back and crashing harshly into the ground.

"Oww..."

This wasn't going to go as smoothly as he'd hoped, was it?

***A Few Hours Later***

_"WHY IS THIS SO HARD?!"_

Naruto was not one to give up so easily but after being thrown around like a ragdoll for the entire afternoon he was running low on patience. He knew having an affinity for certain techniques didn't mean he would be a natural but this was just a C-Rank for Kami's sake! How were both the Water Bullet and Boar Pit jutsu somehow easier than throwing around a gust of wind?!

He'd only successfully managed the jutsu twice but they had been completely by accident and he was unable to reliably replicate the technique much to his frustration.

He was tempted to have clones practice the technique for him but he wanted to learn jutsu on his own before he started having clones master it.

"Naruto! Where are you?!"

Sakura's voice interrupted his muttering and he quickly hollered from his position, "Over here!"

He watched as Sakura arrived shortly after and took a quick survey of the training grounds before looking at his dirty and disheveled state, "Are you okay?"

He snorted and dusted himself off, "Other than my wounded pride I'll recover, what's up?"

Sakura rubbed her arm sheepishly, "I'm going to head back, I'm starting to feel a bit lightheaded but Satsuki is still training and I was hoping you could watch her for me, I'm afraid she might hurt herself at the rate she's going."

The Uchiha seemed determined to catch up to them even at the cost of her own body and Sakura couldn't comfortably leave her teammate alone like that.

Even with their present differences.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, "Of course she is..." He sighed but nodded, "I'll go and keep an eye on her I could use the break anyway."

Sakura smiled, "Thank you."

He waved her off and began making his way towards the clearing he'd left his teammates in prior, "No problem, make sure you get some food it'll help with the lightheadedness."

The pinkette nodded and after bidding him farewell the two went their separate ways.

Strolling into the clearing he could see why Sakura had been reluctant to leave the heiress alone, Satsuki was covered in almost as much dirt as he was, her once pristine clothing scuffed and ruffled likely by plenty of harsh impacts against the earth below.

"You know it's not a crime to take a break, Princess."

The Uchiha barely spared him a glance before rushing the tree again, managing to get about halfway up the trunk before slipping, falling back to the earth with a dull thud and a low growl.

"Or ignore me whatever." He deadpanned, "Would you like some help?"

"I don't need it." She sneered at him and tried again but didn't even manage to get halfway before falling once more.

He shook his head, "I think you do, now stop being stubborn and come here." He walked up to the tree and walked up slightly before turning to face her.

Satsuki glared for a few moments before sighing and walking to the base of the tree, "How do you plan on helping exactly?"

He grinned and held out his hands, "Grab onto me."

She stared at his hands and back to his grinning face, "No."

"Oh come on, what is the great Satsuki Uchiha afraid of a little hand holding?" He teased and laughed at the indignant expression on her face.

"T-That's not it you moron!" Kami she hated him and that stupid smug look of his.

"Then take my hand you big baby, I promise I won't tell your fanboys about this so you don't have to worry."

She was going to kill him one day, that much she was sure of.

"No funny business or I will hurt you." She warned him and reluctantly placed her hands onto his, her smaller hands gripping tightly to his larger ones.

"Cross my heart and hope to die now attach yourself to the tree." She snorted but did as instructed and attached her feet to the tree leaving them standing face to face.

"Now we walk." Naruto slowly began walking backward forcing Satsuki to follow in his steps lest she be dragged along like some kind of dog.

"How exactly does this help me?" She looked at him as they walked, she doubted this would be more efficient than her old method, not to mention how stupid this probably looked.

"Well actually, to be honest, I have no clue I just wanted to hold your hand." He offered her a cheeky grin as her face shifted from expectant to furious.

"W-What?!"

"You know for someone who spends all your time brooding or training your skin is surprisingly soft." He said completely ignoring the anger in her tone.

She wasn't sure if he'd lost his mind or was just screwing with her but either way, she was going to kick the hell out of him!

Releasing his hand with a red flush she immediately sent a punch at his grinning face just barely missing as he weaved out the way of her strike, "Aww are you blushing? You look cute like that Princess~"

"Shut the hell up, you idiot!" She immediately stepped the pace of her attacks up launching punch after punch at the launching blond who would either block or dodge completely spewing a compliment with each missed attempt.

She barely registered they'd long since passed the halfway point up the tree too caught up in trying to pound her teammates face as they twisted around and fought their way up the towering tree, screams of frustration and mischievous laughter echoed in the treetops.

Finally, instead of blocking Naruto caught her first and looked into the flushed and scowling face of the normally pale raven-haired girl.

"Naruto let go of me so I can beat you right now..."

"Before I consider that request can you do me one last favor and look down?"

She didn't understand why he'd asked but looked regardless, more instinctually than any real desire to listen to him further but her eyes widened when she saw they were almost at the top of the tree, her score of tally marks having long since disappeared below.

"You could have made this progress hours ago but you're too uptight, so I gave you something else to focus on." He knew Satsuki well enough to know she was often her own worst enemy and that without an outlet for her frustration she'd be at this for another few days.

"You couldn't have told me that from the beginning!" She ground out, her prior blush disappearing in the wake of her achievement.

He shrugged and laughed, "This works better if you don't know it's happening." He'd done the same thing with Hinata a few times though she normally didn't respond to his teasing with aggression.

That was a different matter entirely though.

She wasn't happy but results were results...

That didn't mean he was off the hook, not in the slightest she was not at all pleased with being made a fool of.

Naruto was very caught off guard when Satsuki suddenly pressed herself up against him, her smaller frame pushing abruptly against his own, the glow of the setting sun playing off her pale face made her look almost radiant as she looked deeply into his eyes.

She leaned close and whispered into his ears, "So now I have to know, did you mean all those things you said?"Causing him to flinch slightly as her breath brushed softly against his lobes.

_Since when had she been capable of sounding so vulnerable?!_

Naruto was in near meltdown how had this turned back on him?! This was Satsuki they were talking about, she had about the same emotional spectrum as rock for Kami's sake!

He felt his face heat up as what little distance between them began to shrink...

And why was her face getting closer?!

"I um...I mean I don't think you're ugly? I mean yes you're pretty but I mean I never thought that!" He hastily corrected fumbling over his words unsure of how to properly respond in this situation.

Satsuki if anything seemed amused and pulled him closer, "It sure sounds like you're thinking about it now. That's okay because I have something to tell you."

She leaned back up on her toes and whispered softly, "Don't screw with an Uchiha."

"Wha-_OOF!_" Naruto wheezed as Satsuki planted her fist firmly into his stomach knocking the wind out of him and shattering his concentration sending him tumbling down the tree smashing into branches and leaves along his fall before crashing unceremoniously onto the floor below with a loud moan of pain.

From her position above the trees, Satsuki watched on both bemused and vindicated at the pain of her idiot teammate.

Serves him right.

_"You look cute like that, Princess~"_

"Tsk...that moron..."

* * *

Sakura blinked as her teammates limped into the house both covered in more dirt than when she'd left them, "What happened to you two?"

Naruto groaned, "I'm not at liberty to talk about it..."

Satsuki didn't bother answering merely sending the blond a look before making her way upstairs to take a shower she was tired of being dirty and a warm shower was her top priority at the moment.

Kakashi looked up from his book, "How far did she get?"

Naruto slumped against the nearby wall, "She nearly made it all the way up but she-_we_ kind of cheated so she'll still probably need another day at it but she should be in a much better position tomorrow."

The silver-haired instructor nodded and asked his second question, "How about you? How's your progress going?"

He sighed, "I still can't get it down and it just ends up exploding in my face sending me flying. I'm not sure if its the compression or the release but it's getting annoying." He frowned thinking on his lack of success with the technique.

Kakashi remained silent as the blond unintentionally talked around the solution to his problem, he said nothing however, it was better for the boy to work through his hurdles rather than just handing him in the answer.

"Well you can think on it tomorrow since I'm having you on first watch tomorrow, Tazuna still needs to work on the bridge and since Sakura and Satsuki are still practicing, you'll be with him tomorrow morning." He informed.

Naruto nodded and got up to grab himself some dinner, he would need to be up early tomorrow then.

* * *

"Alright, brat I'm going to show you how we average folk work so pay attention you might actually learn something." Tazuna joked earning an eye roll from the whiskered blond.

"Sure thing Old man, go ahead and wow me with your hammer and nails."

"Hmph...cheeky." Tazuna laughed and left the blond by the side of the bridge to keep an eye out.

Despite still being a ways off from completion he was impressed by the sheer size of the bridge and understood why Tazuna took so much pride in it. It was to be their salvation and looking at the number of workers he could tell that these people truly believed that with its completion they could finally move past this dark chapter of their lives.

He was glad they'd continued the mission even with the risk, it would be worth it to see these people finally freed.

With Tazuna working Naruto turned his attention back to the thorn in his side.

The Great Breakthrough jutsu.

He still couldn't for the life of him figure out what was wrong with the technique, it wasn't a lack of chakra that was for sure seeing as he'd pumped more than enough chakra into it for four Water Bullets.

He'd thought maybe he wasn't compressing it enough but that hadn't resulted in anything but more violent explosions so he'd quickly walked back on that idea for the sake of remaining in one piece.

The Great Breakthrough was a burst of wind so why was projecting it so difficult? He had no issues with the conversion of chakra so it wasn't a problem with his reserves or his ability to form the wind bullet.

Wind bullet...

He blinked, when had he defaulted to trying to turn the jutsu into a bullet? If the jutsu wasn't meant to travel that far than compressing the wind would only result in backlash hitting everything.

Including him.

Had he been going about this whole thing the wrong way? Water was easier to shape having a more manageable and solid form than wind perhaps his problem was he was treating wind like he treated water trying to control it rather than guiding it.

Perhaps something more like a tunnel or echo would have more consistent results?

He was taken out of his musings when the sound of arguing reached his ears.

"The hell do you mean you're leaving?!" Tazuna roared.

"It means I quit, Tazuna." A middle-aged man wearing a bandana spoke crossing his arms, his tools laid down against the concrete, "I can't risk my family for this bridge, Gato will come for us and he'll make an example of everyone who defied him. I won't put them in that position."

Tazuna grit his teeth, "And so the alternative is to cower and let them grow up under the boot heel of a tyrant? We are working for the freedom of everyone, Renji!"

The now named Renji frowned, "What good is freedom if everyone is dead Tazuna, I'm sorry my friend but I can't in good faith take that chance."

Tazuna went silent before bending down and picking up the discarded tools, "Then leave, I wish your family the best but I will not stop because I want a future for all of us, not just my own family." Tazuna walked passed the now ex-worker but paused, "Anyone who wishes to leave may, but when you walk away I hope you understand just what that means."

Naruto watched as a few of the workers looked hesitantly between each other, some dropped their tools while others continued to work but clearly everyone was slightly rattled by the confrontation.

He waited for things to settle down for a moment before approaching a disgruntled Tazuna, "Is that common?" He asked.

Tazuna nodded sadly, "Gato has been putting subtle pressure on us for a while now and with every passing week more and more people abandon the project". He laughed bitterly, "Did you know at one point almost half of the island was helping? Now we're down to a quarter of that."

Tazuna shook his head, "Don't let it seem like I am unsympathetic fear is a strong deterrent but fear is what got us here. We could have run Gato off when he arrived but instead, we allowed ourselves to be led around like cattle and now our children suffer for our failure." He growled, "I refuse to fail them again."

"Can I help?" He asked.

"You're free to pick up a beam if you want, any little bit helps."

Naruto grinned, "I'll do you one better!"

_**"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"**_

Tazuna and the remaining workers were blinded momentarily by the massive cloud of smoke the soon dissipated to reveal a sea of blonds grinning ear to ear.

Tazuna stared in awe at the veritable goldmine before him, "How?"

He laughed, "I'm just that awesome, now how can we help?"

Maybe things weren't as bad as they seemed...

* * *

**AN. Chapter Done!**

**I apologize once more for the delay and how out of practice I am hoping that clears up soon! I did reread this story to try and get an accurate idea of where I had planned to go but with all the time that has passed some things might have changed so if something seems contradictory please PM so I can take a look and see about it!**

**As always time to discuss the chapter so I can explain why some stuff is the way it is before I am crucified lol.**

**Firstly, the abundance of stuff going on this chapter and the shifting perspective.**

**This happened mainly because from a writing standpoint there is actually not a lot going on during the Wave Arc, other than the meeting with Haku and the bridge battle things are pretty calm overall and that wouldn't really add much so I decided to do more character interactions this chapter before we get to all that. I don't want to spend too much time in wave either so this helps alleviate a lot of fluff so we can kinda get through everything at a decent pace because lord knows this story is already super long as is lol.**

**I know I could add a whole new situation to the Wave Arc but I don't want it to feel forced, I have some ideas for that to spice it up but I wanted to focus on this chapter first and go from there.**

**Secondly, having Sakura trained by Naruto.**

**I know so people are going to groan at this but I really don't feel like having Sakura be useless until Shippuden so this was a good middle ground to at least get her up to a believable strength while also building her character more. I know this happens in a quite a few stories but I never really had a problem with it and with the way I'm building her up I don't think it breaks her character or anything.**

**Thirdly, Why have Kakashi teach Naruto wind jutsu and not Asuma?**

**Well, do keep in mind that Naruto isn't learning nature transformation just actual jutsu something Kakashi is better suited for anyway. Also, I have plans for Naruto's future fighting style that will probably send him to Asuma so don't worry about that. **

**I also just wanted to give him a new jutsu to work with in the meantime and further build up his tool kit and I think the great breakthrough has potential to be really useful in some future scenarios.**

**Lastly onto the big thing I imagine people might give me flak for, the Naruto/Satsuki moment in the trees.**

**Honestly, it was just for a bit of fun lol**

**No for real now, the reasoning was I want to show different sides to my characters and I don't want Satsuki to just be that dark quiet girl that struggles to show affections and blah blah blah. She's still a person and a girl at heart so I gave her a teasing/slight tsun personality. **

**Let me be clear she still going to have the edgy side to her but even Sasuke in part 1 was shown to have some sense of humor and engage in nonsense from time to time, it's part of being young so I wanted to lean into that just a bit. Also, keep in mind that the two have known each and been close in the past so there may or may not be some buried feelings in there.**

**Anyway, last up as always harem info!**

**So I didn't get much contention with how to harem appears to be shaping up which is good because it means I'm actually picking the characters people want lol which in my mind it the actual important bit.**

**So this is what the harem is LIKELY to be, NOT CONFIRMED to be!**

**Hinata**

**Shikari**

**Kira**

**Satsuki**

**Fem Gaara (name in progress)**

**Tayuya/Ino**

**Now I need to qualify that last one since that is a bit confusing.**

**I still have people asking for Ino and part of me feels bad for ignoring such a vocal group when I technically let everything else fall to votes so I put her and Tayuya next to each other because I'm deciding which should take that slot. Tayuya would be the easiest to remove and replace but there is also demand for her so I didn't want to just slot her out. **

**I may, and this is a last resort thing, just allow for one extra slot to have but that is if literally I can't make another choice without feeling terrible kind of option lol. I know people have yelled at me to keep this small so I am trying! You guys can let me know how you feel!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but with that said I hope you enjoy the story anyway!**

**So before we start I want to say thank you all so much ABP has hit over 200 favorites and over 300 followers! I can not understate how much all the support means to me and it has been a joy writing for you all! ****I won't harp on that long because I don't want it to seem like I'm getting too big for my britches or anything but I had to at least take a moment and give my thanks. You guys are great! **

**To those new to my story I also want to give a warm hello to you, I know that first stories kinda struggle and so I thank you for giving this one a chance to really flesh itself out before writing it off. I do hope you continue to read this into the future and more importantly continue to enjoy it for as long as it continues to receive support.**

**With that out the way, let's get into the story!**

* * *

_Improving._

If Naruto had to describe the state of Wave in one word during this past week than he'd probably say that things were slowly but surely improving.

With the sudden burst of manpower due to his rather liberal use of shadow clones, the chance of the bridge being completed suddenly seemed much more likely and with it came a resurgence in the number of villagers looking to help out much to Tazuna's joy at finally seeing his people willing to rally once more.

In fact, the whole town seemed to cheer up a bit as well, it no longer felt as oppressive to walk through the streets and the people were once again chatting away with one another rather than huddled away in their shops or always. It was like new life had been breathed into Wave.

Though with the with some good came a little bit of bad as well.

Gato had apparently gotten wind of the newfound hope in the people of Wave had stepped up his bandit patrols flooding the village with a hoard of less than friendly neighbors with the sole intention of frightening the people back into submission or at the very least reminding them of his presence and perhaps the potential consequences of disobeying him.

When he had learned about it he had not been happy and had approached Kakashi to offer his assistance to the people.

_***Flashback***_

_Kakashi blinked owlishly at his student's request, "You'd like to have clones patrolling the village as well?"_

_He nodded, "It was my fault for interfering to begin with and now people are in danger!" He clenched his fists in his lap, "I can't just ignore my role in that so with your approval I'd like to offer at least some protection to the people."_

_Behind his mask, Kakashi frowned, "I understand your frustrations but you are spread thin as is Naruto, You can't work on the bridge, guard the house, train yourself and protect the village at the same time."_

_Monster reserves or not there was only so much one person could do least of all a child._

_"But sensei I could try!"_

_"Naruto." Kakashi tone was clipped making it clear he was serious about what he was about to say._

_"I sympathize with you and believe me I am more than proud at the work you've done..." He really was but the health of his students came before everything else._

_"But, this is too much." He raised a hand to silence any protests, "I approve of your choice to help Tazuna, and with Zabuza around Gato is already aware of our presence so I concede that hiding is not as much of a necessity anymore._

_"That said, I can not in good faith allow you to have hundreds of clones out all day at once." He placed his hand on the disheartened boy's shoulder, "This is for your own good."_

_Naruto wasn't happy about it but he wouldn't disobey, "I understand sensei..."_

_"Good," Kakashi smiled and began the slow walk to his room before pausing, "Oh, and starting tomorrow I will have you with Tazuna in the morning but after your clones are set up you'll be instead, doing more "information gathering" around the village."_

_The jounin waved him off before limping back to his room leaving one confused blond in his wake._

_Naruto paused to consider his reassignment before the pieces fell into place and he smiled gratefully at the spot the silver-haired man had stood moments prior._

_"You're the best, sensei."_

_***Flashback End***_

So here he was "gathering information" by walking around the village and keeping an eye out for suspicious characters. Gato had actually tipped his hand a bit by sending in reinforcements because as far as he could see there were still no actual shinobi in his forces just hired thugs.

Looks like the man had trust issues not that he could totally fault the tycoon, with bandits loyalty could almost always be bought since they usually were just in it to get rich quick, but ninja generally always had a motive beyond just money and were more than capable of robbing you blind before gutting you. It would make sense for Gato to want to only have a few shinobi under his employ especially since Wave didn't have a proper fighting force to contend with.

However, with Kakashi now active and his reassurance that Zabuza would be out of commission for a while longer, they had more freedom to act publicly and in turn, the villagers felt more secure now that they knew there were trained fighters on their side.

"Hey! Give that back you big jerks!"

Naruto was quickly snapped out of his thoughts by the sudden shout and swiftly made his way around a corner and towards the source of the voice and came across a sight that made his blood boil in his veins.

Two thugs stood over a little girl, no older than five or maybe six years old, holding what he assumed to be a small bag of money and grinning ear to ear while they laughed at the small child attempting to reach up and grab the small pouch to no avail fresh tears running down her chubby cheeks as she tried and failed to reclaim the small sack.

"Hey now! Didn't your momma teach you that sharing is caring?" The first thug laughed using one hand to keep the child in place while waving the pouch with the other.

The second chuckled beside his partner, "What did you expect from a bunch of backwater peasants, might as well be animals."

The little girl huffed and struggled against the hand holding her back, "Be quiet! Give that back you… you… big dumb stupid heads!"

The first thug sneered, "You kiss your momma with that mouth? Looks like you need some discipline!" He shouted and moved to backhand the small girl who flinched and closed her eyes, bracing herself for the impact...

But it never came.

Tentatively, she opened her eyes and found the goons hand just inches from her face but stopped dead in its tracks by another hand gripping tightly around his wrist.

"Did your mother raise you to beat children? Or was she too busy crying over the fact she could tell you'd never amount to more than human garbage to bother?"

Naruto glared icily at the two men before him his grip tightening on the thug in his grasp as the two flinched at his sudden interference.

"L-Let me go you bastard!"

"No, I don't think I will." He applied greater pressure and a loud pop rang through the air as the thug was suddenly forced to his knees as the bones in his wrist shifted painfully beneath the skin.

The second thug seemed to snap back to attention and reached for the sword by his hip before Naruto spoke once more.

"If you draw that weapon," Cold blue eyes shifted lazily in his direction, "I will be forced to take drastic action, and you don't want that do you?"

The two were locked in a staring contest before the thug in his hold yelled at his partner, "Jinzhou its just one fucking brat, he's playing you!"

"Am I?"

The now named Jinzhou seemed to be emboldened by his partner's words and drew his blade, steel glinting in the air as he grasped the blade and pointed it threateningly towards the blond.

Naruto sighed, "Even animals would have more sense than you it seems."

"Shut up! Let Bunta go you blond fuck!"

Naruto frowned, "I warned you."

Pulling the thug in his grasp forward, he slammed his knee into the poor fools nose with a sickening crack before letting go and swiftly drawing a kunai to block a downward slash from his second opponent. Despite being smaller than his foe he quickly overpowered the older man and launched a devastating blow into his gut likey cracking a few ribs and folding the thug in on himself watching carelessly as the man before him cough spittle onto the ground below.

"In fairness, you brought this on yourselves." He spoke watching as the two rolled along the floor trying to regain their bearings.

"Fuck you!/Piss off!" The screamed scrambling to their feet and charging with weapons drawn intent to cut him down where he stood.

"Tsk, nothing but trash." He dodged their strikes with ease weaving between stabs and slashes with minimal effort a bored expression on his face, "You pick on children because they are the only ones weaker than you I see." He mocked sending them into a blind rage.

Unfortunately for them, he wouldn't give them the chance to act upon it.

Charging his fist with chakra he ducked under two beheading strikes and rose swiftly savage uppercuts to both men chins, the stored chakra allowing him to easily launch the two into the air despite their weight. Before they could rocket off however he grabbed them by their shirts and without mercy slammed them harshly into the ground with a loud thud immediately knocking them unconscious as their minds sought reprieve from the constant pain being inflicted upon them.

He stared down at the two broken bodies beneath him, he didn't kill them but he'd made sure they wouldn't be threatening anyone else while he was here. Reaching down he quickly pried the small pouch from the shattered hands of the petty thieves before rounding on the now cowering child.

"Hey," He offered a sunny smile and bent down to appear less threatening, "Is this yours?" he held out the small brown pouch towards her.

"Y-Yes, my mommy gave it to me to buy dinner." The girl sniffled but carefully approached him, gently reaching out and taking the small sack of money before clutching it close to her chest watching him wearily.

"Y-You're not gonna beat me up too, are you?" She asked fearfully looking down at the two unconscious bodies behind him.

Internally he lamented that maybe he should have been a bit more merciful, at least in front of children anyway.

He shook his head, "No I'm not, I only beat up bad people" He ruffled her hair slightly, "And you look too cute to be a bad person." He joked earning a slight blush from the young girl who suddenly found her feet to be very interesting at his compliment.

"T-Thank you Nii-san!" She beamed at him and he suddenly found himself engulfed him in a tight hug, her smaller arms wrapping tightly around his neck and her face buried into the side of his jacket.

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at the gesture but smiled returned the hug regardless, "Nii-san?"

The smaller girl pulled away and nodded shyly, "Hai, mommy said big brothers are protectors, you saved me so that makes you Nii-san!" He couldn't help but chuckle at the confidence with which she explained herself, the logic of children could be so pure at times.

He smiled and nodded down at the little girl, "I guess it does, but I can't be a good brother if I don't know my little sister's name."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She bowed low crossing her hands in front of her dress, "I'm Mio! What's your name?"

He bowed back, "Nice to meet you Mio, my name is Naruto."

"Na-ru-to, Naruto-nii! I like your name Nii-san!"

He laughed and swiftly picked the smaller girl up and placed her on his shoulders earning a squeal of glee from the young lady as she flew through the air, "Well as your Nii-san, I have to make sure my cute little sister makes it to the store on time."

Mio giggled and buried her hands into his hair for balance, "Thank you Naruto-nii!"

"Of course, now hold on tight okay." He warned her before the two set off to the nearest store, Mio laughing and smiling the whole way and talking animatedly to her new big brother about every little thing she could think of.

He smiled as she spoke and quietly made a new promise to himself.

He was going to save this place.

_No matter what._

* * *

After bidding Mio farewell, and many promises to stop by and visit her again, he returned to his patrol for the rest of the afternoon. Thankfully, things remained quiet for the rest of the day and he'd done little more than assist the local populace with a few tasks here and there before the sun fell.

A good days work in his opinion.

Stepping through the door to Tazuna's family home he was greeted to the sight of Kakashi and his team sitting around the dinner table, Tazuna haphazardly drinking of his ever-present flask and Tsunami busying herself in the kitchen over the stove.

"Welcome back, Naruto" Kakashi offered him a lazy wave and slight smile, "How goes the 'info gathering?'"

He smirked, "Nothing too big yet sensei but if anything comes up I'll let you know."

Kakashi nodded and pulled out his usual orange book, "See to it that you do."

Sakura looked between them clearly tipped off to the fact that there was something going on that she didn't understand but decided against voicing her thoughts in favor of getting her dinner. Kakashi still had her running up trees and her much to her annoyance but she had noticed it was taking longer and longer before she began to tire so she sucked it up without complaint.

Didn't make her any less tired though.

Tsunami and Sakura stepped out of the kitchen a few minutes later carrying trays with bowls of soup and rice in hand that they quickly dispersed around the table earning a chorus of thank-yous at the freshly cooked meal.

They were more than grateful to have a proper meal after a long day.

Tsunami smiled at the assembled group before frowning slightly at the sight of an empty seat knowing full well who was trying to skip out,

"Inari! Dinner is ready, please come down!" She hollered earning the attention of the dining group who's gazes turned from their meals to the stairs leading to the upper floor of the house.

For a moment it was silent before the soft pattering of feet against hardwood began echoing from the ceiling. Eventually, from the darkness of the stairwell, a young boy emerged garbed in a green jumpsuit with a yellow shirt and a simple pair of sandals topped off with a blue and white striped hat.

Tsunami smiled kindly at her son, "Come eat with us, I've already set a place for you." She gestured to the open space by Tazuna who was merrily enjoying his food.

Inari said nothing merely looking over the assembled party with disinterest before quietly making his way over to his seat and rather halfheartedly eating the food prepared for him.

Well isn't he just the life of the party...

Naruto tore his gaze away from the rather depressing kid in favor or checking on the progress of teammates, "How are you enjoying guard duty Princess? Hope the old man isn't boring you too much though I'm sure you've caught up on all your brooding."

True to his prediction the Uchiha had managed gotten the hang of the tree climbing technique the following day and since, unlike Sakura she actually had rather sizable reserves Kakashi had shifted her over to his old position.

The heiress glared at him but didn't outwardly rise to the taunt, "Its nothing special, though I could live without seeing a hundred copies of your stupid face running around."

"That hurts Princess, I thought we had something special." He pouted send a faux hurt look towards the scowling raven-haired girl earning a slight flush from the Uchiha who wasn't sure if he was referencing their little...moment.

"If by something special you mean me wanting nothing more than slap you then yes, I guess we do." She growled.

"Is that a threat?"

"Yes, you idiot!"

"Sensei she's threatening me!"

Kakashi looked up from his book and quickly looked between the two before shrugging, "As long as you don't get caught do as you please Satsuki." He promptly ignored the indignant look Naruto threw his way and returned to his reading.

Said Uchiha smirked, "Better watch you back moron."

Tazuna and Tsunami sent each other a look chuckled at the banter between the duo as they went back and forth each getting progressively more worked up as they threw taunt after taunt at one another.

Ah, young love made for a wonderful show.

Beside him, Sakura sighed and shook her head at the childishness of her two teammates but smiled softly at the sense of normalcy it brought her, like things we're going to be alright.

_***Bang!***_

The table fell silent at the unexpected noise, turning their heads they found Inari who had been watching them silently up until now glaring hatefully at the assembled ninja, his hands balled up into tight fists.

"Is this just a big joke to you?! Don't you get that no matter what you do you'll never be a match for Gato's men!" The young boy grit his teeth, "You're all just wasting your time pretending everything's okay but it's not!"

"Inari enough!" Tsunami quickly tried to reign her son back in.

"But it's true!" He glared harder at the stunned group, "The will weak die at the hands of the strong, that's how life works!"

For a while, no one spoke, each taking a few moments to process the disgruntled child's words.

Tazuna and Tsunami looked down in shame, not just for the boy's outburst but because it was partly their fault he'd become like this. It was their inaction when Gato swept through Wave that had warped the once bright child's viewpoint into a shriveled shell of its former self.

Kakashi unsurprisingly remained impassive his inner thoughts unknown and the man gave nothing away preferring to observed over the rim of his book.

Sakura frowned, while she initially had doubts about their success the recent days had proven promising in her eyes. Even if Gato was that strong things would work out in the end...

_Right?_

Satsuki merely scowled, what did some snot-nosed brat know about how the world worked? If he wanted to lie down and complain then let him as far as she was concerned there were bigger fish than some corrupt businessman out there in the world.

"Are you done crying now?" Naruto met Inari's gaze with uncharacteristic indifference, completely ignoring the rage in the young boy's eyes.

Inari seemed taken aback, "What?"

"I said, are you done crying now?" He repeated his question, "Because all your whining has done is spoil this dinner."

Inari growled, "Are you stupid?! You are going to die and all you care about is food! Is our suffering funny to you? You get to live in your big village all safe and happy while we struggle." He pointed at the seated blond, "You don't know anything about how good you have it!"

...

"You are pathetic." Naruto's blunt words cut through the tension like knives, "You think just because your life is hard that you somehow have it worse than everyone else?!"

Sakura could see her teammate growing progressively more furious "Naruto, please calm down..." She pleaded.

He ignored her, "Are you aware there are people who would happily kill to take your place? Who's lives are so bad they'd willingly take _your_ life to escape their own?" He glared down at the shaking child his chakra unconsciously flaring in his anger.

"You have a loving mother who takes what little she has and gives it to you, and a grandfather who is willing to risk his life so that you'll have a chance for a better future and you sit there crying telling them that they should give up and be as pathetic as you are now."

"Grow the hell up." His words were harsh, harsher than his team had ever heard him speak, "Either work for a better life or stay out of the way of the people who will."

"Naruto, that's enough." Kakashi interrupted.

"Tsk… fine." He stood and made his way to the door, "I'm sorry for my outburst, Tsunami-san."

Sakura called out to her retreating teammate, "Where are you going?"

"Training." And without another word the blond disappeared into the night closing the door softly behind him.

Inari seemed to follow suit quickly rushing back upstairs to his room though everyone had caught the glint of fresh tears on the young boys face before he'd disappeared.

Kakashi sighed, "I apologize for him Tazuna-san, Tsunami-san believe me he did not mean to offend."

Tazuna was quiet before he answered softly, "That kind of anger doesn't come from nowhere...what kind of life has that boy had?"

He had spent hours with the lad during their time working on the bridge and never had he seen the slightest hint of even mild annoyance from the generally happy blond. To have him blow up so passionately...

Kakashi shook his head, "I don't know all the details, I don't think anyone really does except him, but I do know that his life has never been an easy one. His strength is born of suffering that I wouldn't wish upon anyone."

Beside him, Sakura and Satsuki listened quietly to their sensei's hints, both coming to the uncomfortable realization that they knew very little about their loud teammate's personal life.

They knew he was an orphan but otherwise, the blond kept the details of his life to himself.

Satuski frowned as she stared into the brown bowl of soup before her.

_"His strength is born of suffering"_

What else was he keeping hidden from them?...

Kakashi looked up, "If I may ask, why is Inari so..." He paused and tried to find the right words not wishing to offend.

Tsunami shook her head gently stopping the silver-haired man, "It's okay..." She sounded so defeated as she slowly made her way over to a slightly dusty picture frame grabbing it delicately as though if she held on too hard it would shatter in her hands.

Wiping the frame with her dress she handed the frame over to the masked-nin who took it carefully from her.

The picture was nothing grand, a portrait photo of Tsunami, Tazuna, Inari, and one unknown man smiling and laughing together.

"That picture was taken before Gato arrived." Tsunami explained staring wistfully at the frame while Sakura and Satsuki joined their sensei in looking over the picture.

"Who's that man?" Sakura asked.

"That..." Tsunami paused but continued, "That was my husband...and Inari's step-father."

They all caught the past tense in that statement.

Surprisingly it was Satsuki who spoke up next, "What happened to him?"

The woman seemed to deflate at her question earning a cough from Tazuna who placed a hand on her shoulder, "I'll tell them you can go check up on Inari dear."

She offered a weak nod towards her father and quickly excused herself quietly leaving the remaining members of Team Seven alone with the older man.

Tazuna took a final swig from his flask before speaking, "To your question...Kaiza," He gestured to the male figure, "Was killed when Gato arrived."

"He was Inari's hero before he became the boy's father...after that, well there were no two people on this island closer than them." He appeared to age the more he spoke, "When Gato arrived Kaiza was the first to stand up to the monster even when he didn't have to... he had a wife, a child, a life, and everything to lose but he saw the threat to his people and so he did what we didn't have the courage to do and tried to fight."

Team Seven shifted uncomfortably having a very clear idea where this story was going.

He continued to tell the story more to himself at this point than them, "Gato wanted to make an example to keep us in line... looking back I think he was almost grateful someone tried to oppose him." His fists clenched in anger.

"Kaiza had a saying that used to inspire everyone he met. He would say 'If something is truly important to you… even it's heart-breaking, even if it's sorrowful… you keep on trying and trying, even if you lose your life, you keep on protecting it with these two arms!'"

He laughed humorously, "Gato had heard this speech so you know what he did?" Tazuna looked them in the eyes, "He cut of Kaiza's arms and hung him in the center of town in mockery before he executed him in full view of everyone... including Inari." He finished wiping away at his own tears with the towel around his neck.

Satsuki looked back towards the stairs with silent sympathy, she knew what it was like to watch helplessly as your family died like animals...she might not have supported his viewpoint but she could understand his pain.

Sakura meanwhile felt sick, how could someone be that cruel?! Was this the reality that existed beyond her village? Tyrants committing atrocities unopposed?!

Kakashi, however, had long since seen an outcome like this coming it was common in the war to intimidate smaller nations in sending aid, and the methods for this ranged from simple requests to hostile and bloody takeovers. It was the sad reality that without the strength to protect yourself, you were at risk of someone else coming along and using you.

"We're sorry for your loss."

Tazuna having got himself under control waved them off, "It's not your fault or the kids." He schooled himself, "He was right to say what he said, we could have stopped Gato but we didn't and Kaiza would roll in his grave if he could see what became of us. That's why it's so important we finish this bridge."

"It's the last hope for Wave."

* * *

"Stupid...stupid, stupid, stupid!" Naruto smacked his cheeks with every word as he stomped through the darkness.

He didn't regret what he said in the slightest, he'd meant every word and stood by them. No, what he regretted was stooping down to the same level as a damn child throwing a tantrum, he was supposed to have more control than that!

It just pissed him off when people complained about their lives but rather than try and change they wanted to find comfort in excuses, worse when they tried to drag others down with them.

"I need to get my mind off this before I do something else stupid..."

He hadn't been this annoyed in a long time.

"Might as well test out my theory while I'm out there."

He hadn't had the time to test his new approached to the Great Breakthrough with his new duties and since he wasn't planning on returning to the house for a few hours he might as well get the practice in.

Gathering his chakra he ran through the seals and felt the familiar pressure of compressed air building in his lungs as the seals shaped the technique within him.

Not a bullet but a burst...

_**"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**_

_*Woosh!*_

Naruto grinned as he looked at the swaying trees before him marking his first semi-successful attempt, or at least the first intentional success. With this, he was now confident the compression had been the problem after all, 'hollowing' out the ball of wind seemed to remove the awful explosion that tended to throw him around and instead produced the funnel like burst of wind that Kakashi had demonstrated for him.

If he had to guess he'd assume the shell of chakra he made couldn't contain the pressure resulting in the jutsu destabilizing and so the sudden release of pressure would, in turn, crash into him as well as anything around it.

In actuality, the idea of a pressurized 'wind bomb' definitely warranted further testing but until he had a better grasp of the element he'd stick to just performing the jutsu.

Still, he had a long way to go Kakashi's had been way stronger and he didn't plan on just tossing light gusts of wind at people.

Gathering his chakra once more he ran through the seals again and got back to practicing.

He had all night to get the hang of it after all.

* * *

...ake...up...

He groaned and shifted, he could feel something nudging him but he couldn't bring himself to get up.

"Please wake up, you'll catch a cold out here." A soft voice called to him.

He frowned in his sleep-addled state, that didn't sound like either of his teammates...

Ignoring his bodies protest he opened his eyes his lids fluttering as he adjusted to the sudden influx of light before his vision began to clear and he came face to face with his mysterious visitor.

"Beautiful..." He hadn't meant to say that out loud but sleep deprivation coupled with slight chakra exhaustion was working against his sensibilities at the moment.

Not that he was lying she looked angelic with the sun's rays filtered through the trees, her long dark hair framing a gentle face and warm brown eyes and pale skin.

Thankfully the mysterious woman didn't seem to take offense if anything she seemed amused by his compliment, "Thank you." Her voice was soft and soothing.

He flushed slightly, "S-Sorry, I didn't mean to say that."

She pouted slightly but there was a glint of mischief in her eyes, "So you don't think I'm beautiful?" she asked almost hurt that he'd taken back his words.

"No! I mean, yes! I just meant-, what I mean is..." He rambled trying desperately to find the appropriate way to explain himself and apologize.

Kami this was awful, first Satsuki and now this!

His stammering was interrupted by her chuckling, at first just a small series of barely contained giggles that quickly built into a light but cheerful laughter that had him captivated.

She has a really pretty laugh...

Eventually, the laughter died down and she offered him a kind mirthful smile, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself." She giggled slightly into her sleeve, "I appreciate the compliment, Ninja-san."

He blinked, "How did you know?"

She gestured to the band around his arm with the metal leaf symbol attached, "I've heard ninja tend to wear the symbols of their homeland, I assumed you were one such person."

At that he had the decency to scratch his head sheepishly, it probably wasn't the best idea to hang around with an item that clearly screamed he wasn't a native, at least not if he was going to sleep out in the open anyway.

"Ah, my bad." He laughed and sat up straight against the tree he'd decided to rest against in the night, "Also my name is not Ninja-san, I'm Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto." He introduced giving a bright grin.

She offered a demure smile in return, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Naruto-san, my name is Haku."

He noted her lack of surname but he didn't wish to pry everyone had stories better left unsaid and he'd had enough blunders for one morning.

She frowned, "Might I ask why you were sleeping out on the ground, Naruto-san? I don't know much about ninja but I don't think even they are immune to getting sick." Her tone was one of concern and yet somehow he still felt like he was being lectured.

"I was training and I guess I got a bit carried away, hehe..." He admitted sheepishly

She seemed surprised, "Training? Are you not strong enough already?"

He shook his head, "It's not enough, not for my goals but I won't give up until I achieve them." He didn't think he was weak but in the grand scheme of things he wasn't strong enough.

Not when people like Zabuza existed.

She nodded, "I see." She was quiet before she posed another question, "Naruto-san, if I may ask... what is it that you fight for? Where does your strength come from?" She asked catching him off guard.

What did he fight for?

His dream of being the strongest sure, but beyond that?

"I guess..." He mulled it over before continuing, "I guess I would say I fight to protect my friends and those who can't protect themselves."

His friends were really all he had, and he'd made a promise to himself to protect the village even if it wasn't always kind to him. His dream was personal but he'd lay down his life gladly for those close to him.

Haku smiled at his answer, "I like your answer, Naruto-san." She seemed to stare off into the distance as she spoke, "Personally I believe that when someone has something important they want to protect... that's when they can become truly strong."

She turned back to him, "I am happy to hear you have something important to you, Naruto-san."

The two sat quietly each in their own thoughts before Haku seemed to remember why she was out here to begin with and began to pick some of the wildflowers littering the clearing.

"Why are you collecting flowers?" He asked watching from the sidelines as Haku went about swiftly but carefully gathering an assortment of herbs into a woven basket.

"I came out here to grab these herbs to make medicine for a close friend who has fallen ill, these will help soothe his pain and speed up his recovery." She gestured to the clover-shaped plants she was rounding up.

"Ah, can I help? It's my fault you got caught up to begin with." He offered sitting on his knees to better inspect the specific herb.

She smiled and nodded, "It would be appreciated, as many as you can grab would be perfect just be careful when pulling the stems they can cut you if you aren't careful."

"Understood." He gave her his best soldier impression gaining another round of giggles from the girl.

The two picked flowers for the next few minutes making small talk here and there but eventually, they'd collected all Haku needed and it was time for her to go.

"Thank you again Naruto-san, both for the company and the help." She bowed slightly in thanks.

"Hehe, thank you Haku-chan I learned a lot from you today." He meant that sincerely, her philosophy had struck a chord in him that he wouldn't soon forget.

"I'm glad to have been able to teach you something." Her words were genuine as she turned to leave he called out to her.

"Do you think... maybe we can see each other again soon?"

He knew it was a longshot but there was something about her he just couldn't shake off, but he wanted to see her again she reminded him a lot of Hinata but there was a connection there that even he and the Hyuga heiress didn't have.

Something in her eyes that just seemed... familiar almost.

She laughed, "I didn't think you would be so forward Naruto-san, you don't have some ulterior motives now do you?"

He huffed, "I'm not falling for your teasing again Haku-chan." Earning another pout from the girl but both could tell the other was having a good time.

"You are no fun, Naruto-san." Her playfulness, however, seemed to fade and was replaced with hesitation, "As for if we may meet again..."

She seemed to fight with herself for an answer, "I can not say for sure..."

He frowned but nodded in acceptance, it was unfortunate but he understood it things didn't always work out.

"However," She continued, "My friend may need more medicine so if we happen to meet while out and about..." The rest didn't need to be said.

He grinned and nodded, "I'll be on the lookout then, Haku-chan!"

She nodded and began her journey home before stopping and turning to face him once more, "Oh, and Naruto-san?"

"Yes?"

She shuffled uncomfortably in place her face shifting from serious to highly embarrassed a slight dusting of red coating her pale cheeks while she fidgeted with her words, "There is something I think is best to tell you now..."

He gave her a reassuring smile hoping to ease her tension, "Sure thing, Haku-chan."

She bowed low hiding her face from him behind her long hair.

"I'm a boy, Naruto-san."

...

"EEHHHHH?!"

How could she be a boy! She was prettier than almost every girl he knew?!

**_OH KAMI HE'D CALLED ANOTHER GUY BEAUTIFUL!_**

"Fufu, just kidding~" She waved cheerily barely covering her laughter as she watched the blonds face shift rapidly between surprise, confusion, disbelief then finally horror.

She hadn't had this much fun in a while.

"That wasn't funny Haku-chan!"

"I would disagree~"

Despite himself, he couldn't stop smiling even as she turned and walked off into the unknown...

* * *

"You're late, Haku."

She bowed, "Forgive me Zabuza-sama the plants I needed took me a bit longer to find than expected." She explained quickly making her way next to her bedridden master.

Zabuza growled but said nothing, he'd been unconscious for the past few days while his body recovered both from his loss and Haku's senbon trick, and while he was grateful to still be alive it didn't make his condition any better.

Or less humiliating in his eyes.

"Your recovery is going well Zabuza-sama, I don't think you'll be down much longer and thankfully the senbon holes won't leave any scaring upon your skin." Haku smiled slightly as she began mashing up the herbs she'd collected to create the medicine she'd need to speed up his recovery.

"As if I'd care about something like that."

She frowned, "You might not but I do Zabuza-sama, your health is my top priority." There was nothing that mattered more to her than keeping her master healthy and more importantly alive.

He rolled his eyes at her, "You would say that after you put me in a coma."

She huffed and brought over his medicine, "I would not have needed to if _someone_ didn't underestimate their opponents." Her master he may be but she would still point out flaws in his behavior like his tendency to underestimate anyone he hadn't heard of before. They were ninja they weren't supposed to be well known to begin with!

"You're lucky your medical skills are so useful Haku because that mouth will get you in trouble some day." He warned halfheartedly but not before taking the medicine from her and drinking it down and unknowingly blocking his view of her troubled expression.

_"Do you think... maybe we can see each other again soon?" _

She nodded, "I will keep that in mind for the future Zabuza-sama." She whispered.

"Out of the way! Where is the so-called 'Demon' I hired?!" A shrill sleazy voice hacked from the hallway of their hideout before from around the corner stepped their current employer.

Gato, a short pig of a man with shaggy brown hair and sports a pair of small, circular black glasses and clutched a thin cane between his hands. He dressed in a black suit with a purple tie and black shoes.

If it wasn't for his vast wealth they would have killed him long ago.

Gato stepped inside the room flanked by two guards that glared distastefully at the two, she supposed with her master bedridden they were feeling confident for a couple of slightly trained thugs.

"What did I hire you for Zabuza?" Gato growled, "You and your _associates_" He spat out the words like they were poison, "Had one job! Kill Tazuna and stop that bridge from being built. So why is it that not only is Tazuna still alive but that damn bridge is actually being completed faster than before?!"

He'd paid good money for this band of missing-nin and so far other than killing some of his men, which to be honest he didn't care much about, they hadn't done anything he'd actually paid them to do!

Zabuza grit his teeth, "Watch your tone, _Boss_." He sneered from beneath his bandages, "There were complications, more than we expected but they will not matter next time."

Gato seemed lived, "Next time?!" He began a short stride up to bedridden ninja "I should have you ki-" His rant was interrupted by Haku who had swiftly placed herself between her master and their employer.

She smiled dangerously "I kindly ask that you not approach Zabuza-sama right now." Despite her apologetic tone, everyone could feel the blatant threat woven into her words

Gato glared but eventually backed down, returning to the safety of his guards, "Feh, You have one last chance or you won't be getting paid." He made his threat clear before with a tap of his cane he and his men left the two shinobi alone.

"Must we work for him, Zabuza-sama?" Haku sighed and returned to her position by his side, "I do not trust him."

Zabuza scoffed, "It's not about trust it's about money." His words were blunt, "The payday from this job will set us ahead by months maybe even a year I can't pass that up."

She frowned but nodded her master had his own dreamlike anyone else and he would do anything to attain them...

Even if meant walking over the corpses of an entire nation.

"How long until I'm back to fighting condition?"

"I'd say it will take about another week at your current pace, maybe more maybe less but you will be up soon enough." She guessed.

"Good" He turned and closed his eyes, "I don't plan on making any mistakes this time."

Haku nodded and turned to leave, she made it to the doorway before Zabuza spoke out again.

"Haku."

"Yes, Zabuza-sama?"

"When the time comes I expect you to handle those three brats, understood?"

She knew exactly what he meant by "handle"...

"Is that understood Haku?" She could almost feel his gaze on her from behind, this wasn't a request.

She frowned but nodded once more, "Yes, Zabuza-sama...I will hold nothing back."

"Good...you are a fine tool, Haku." He praised and swiftly returned to his slumber leaving Haku to herself clenching her fist anxiously.

"Thank you..."

* * *

_***Thud! Thud! Thud!***_

The sound of fists colliding with wood rang out through the clearing as well as the labored breathing of one of its occupants as they threw themselves against the sturdy trunks of the towering trees.

"That's the last set, break time Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out watching bemused as the pinkette seemed to topple over the moment she registered his words, a loud sigh of exhaustion and relief escaping from her lungs.

"Oh thank Kami..." Sakura groaned, she never remembered her body ever hurting this much before.

With their routines stabilized Naruto had decided now was a good time to start their training, with Kakashi permission he'd stolen her away after breakfast.

Without access to his usual resources, he couldn't have her working on anything specific so he'd decided to work on getting her up to snuff physically before they found her any specific skills to work with.

Thankfully he had a pretty solid grasp of her strengths so hopefully, it wouldn't take too long.

"How are you feeling Sakura-chan?"

She huffed and wheezed looking at him through her sweat matted pink locks, "Like... I wanna die... or kill you... whichever is easier..." She breathed out.

He laughed and made his way over to her sitting down beside her and offered her a flask of water, "You did ask me to train you, besides it is not so bad once you get used to it."

She glared but took the water and downed the refreshing liquid, "That doesn't make this less awful, you were doing this since you were six?"

"Five and a few months but yeah." He nodded earning a flat look from her.

"That makes me feel even worse you know." She deadpanned, she was exhausted doing a workout he'd done as a child!"

He laughed and patted her arm fondly, "In your defense, I did double it for you so really you are doing the same work out that I was doing at around... maybe seven years old." He supplied.

"YOU WERE DOING THIS WHEN WE STARTED THE ACADEMY?!"

How was she supposed to compare to that?!

As if he could read her thoughts he clicked his teeth and nudged her gently, "Hey, don't go comparing yourself to me or anyone else. This training is for you to get better, you can't get back lost time but you can start making up for it."

She sighed but nodded he was right, she already knew she was behind and no amount of complaining would solve it. That didn't mean she had to stay that way though.

"Naruto? Other than physical training what else will we be doing?" She asked having finally caught her breath.

He leaned forward and rested his chin in his palm, "Well for right now we don't have the time or resources to teach you much of anything but when we get back I have two things in mind for you for the immediate future."

"And those are?" She pushed.

"The first is getting you a proper taijutsu style, the academy styles are fine but everyone knows them it and you run the risk of running into more experienced fighters who will know how to counter them."

She nodded seeing the value in his suggestion, neither he nor Satsuki used the basic academy styles and everyone from their graduating class had either their own unique way of fighting or a clan style refined by generations to fall back on.

She could use the edge.

"What's the next thing?"

"The second task is figuring out your element affinity." He answered.

"My element affinity?" She, of course, knew the five basic elements but she'd never heard of elemental affinities before.

He nodded, "I'm not going to explain everything now but the gist is, everyone has an alignment to one of the five basic elements, I want to find out yours so we can get you a few jutsu to use. Even if you only end up with one or two it's better to have a few techniques on the off chance taijutsu isn't an option."

As it stood Sakura only had the academy three to fall back on and throwing weapons, neither of which were hard to counter so for her own safety he'd rather her pick up at least one offensive jutsu and maybe a supplemental or defensive technique if possible depending on her affinity.

Sakura again was forced to agree, she'd seen the synergy of her two teammates despite their conflicting elements and part of her always lamented how she could never do something similar with either of them.

"How do you know all this anyway? You never paid much attention to Iruka-sensei's lectures." Naruto had always been spotty in regards to his actual studying. He wasn't dumb but he never much cared for the less practical lessons.

He shrugged, "I don't care much for history, at least not the way it is taught in the academy. As for training, I had some help when I was younger and from there everything just kinda fell into place."

He could never understate how grateful he was to Amagi for taking the time out to push him in the right direction, who knows where he could have ended up left to himself.

He stood and offered a hand to his now sitting teammate, "I think we've done enough for one day lets head back before Princess eats all food again."

She snorted and took his hand, "You're just made she took all the eggs before you got back this morning."

He grumbled, "She did that on purpose and you know it! She wants me to starve!"

She laughed as the two began their walk back to the house, "Someone is paranoid~"

"It's not paranoia if it's true!"

"Keep telling yourself that, Naruto"

* * *

**AN. Chapter complete!**

**Happy to get this update out a bit quicker than last time and I'm actually much happier keeping the length of the chapters at around 7K+ words as opposed to 10K+ keeps things from feeling forced and I don't feel as stressed when writing. You'll still get those longer chapters from time to time though but I think this is still a decent length.**

**Anyway time for our usual notes but I do want to say really quick thanks to everyone who left feedback and support for the last chapter it was very much appreciated!**

**So starting off:**

**1\. Is the Wave timeline a bit off?:**

**Yes, I stretched it out a bit to fill it with some more content overall but things should wrap up in the next chapter which will hopefully conclude the Wave Arc and put us back in Konoha with all your favorite characters.**

**2\. Naruto's temperament with Inari might seem a bit harsh or unprovoked, why?**

**I wanted to be pretty clear that unlike many (not all but many) smarter Naruto stories he is retaining a lot of his core character, rather than being either a copy of Minato or just aloof he is still a rather hot-blooded guy so that's part of it.**

**His anger was not born out of a lack of sympathy but anger at Inari putting down the work of the people and essentially telling everyone to give up. I have shown that Naruto is very supportive of those who know they need help and work to improve but I also wanted to show he has little patience for those who sit, wallow, and complain about their circumstances.**

**And of course, anyone would be ticked off at being told their life was cushy by some stranger when they've literally done nothing but struggle.**

**3\. Haku being a girl and her personality?**

**Firstly have you seen Haku when I went to remind myself how he looked like and I had to stop and call BS on the whole "I'm a boy" thing lol he is wayyyy too pretty. So he is now she and I don't really think people will have a ton of issues with this but that is my reasoning.**

**I will talk more about this down below but I wanted to give Haku a bit more of a distinct character, in many stories where I've really enjoyed Haku had her in a much more playful but still gentle depiction so I tried to follow that here. There is also another reason for it but that is for later.**

**4\. Is Naruto being a bit brutal in his handling of the bandits (fight)?**

**I've never really written Naruto to be so dismissive of his opponents (barring Mizuki) but he doesn't care for those who would pick on or harm children so he wasn't exactly feeling very merciful. Also because they are so below his skill level he didn't really have a reason to take them very seriously so it comes off as boredom. **

**5\. Not much actual action in this chapter?**

**This should be the last chapter before the upcoming bridge battle so I didn't want to load this chapter with a big fight when we are going to have battles going on in the next chapter. I wanted to flesh out Naruto's time in Wave a bit, get Sakura's training set up, explore Haku's character quickly, and touch on Inari's views. I assume the next chapter will be pretty long since I want to wrap everything up so you can expect the next chapter to have a lot in it. I know we moved around a lot this chapter but I really just want to be done with Wave so that things can progress, I think I covered what I needed to**

**Next up:**

**There are other things I could talk about but I'll leave it at that, do note that if you've left a review with a question or concern I may have answered you so check your inbox from time to time if so.**

**Now for the harem stuff, in the last chapter, you all had a choice between Tayuya and Ino and I left it down to you to decide if I would replace Tayuya with Ino. Having gotten a fair bit of feedback I have made my choice.**

**Tayuya stays and Ino will not be in the harem.**

**I didn't make the decision lightly and I really did consider which would be better narratively and they both had really strong points in their favor but based on demand on creating a compelling story I decided to go with Tayuya.**

**Another factor in this choice was that while people did message me in favor of Ino or neural to either choice many of the pro-Ino reviews are from guests. Don't get me wrong, a reader is a reader and I'm happy for anyone to participate and engage with the story but I can't really gauge how honest a guest review is. If someone is just sending 'votes' over and over again it would be unfair to remove another character for that.**

**If you don't like it I'm sorry but I want to be fair so that's the ruling on Ino's fate in this regard. She a cool character and I like her but she's not going to be in the harem.**

**Moving on though while I was writing this chapter a buddy of mine who has been helpful in bouncing ideas off of got to check it out early and made one request.**

**Could Haku be considered for the harem?**

**Now I had plans for Wave and by extension Haku but I did see this asked before in a few reviews. (again by a guest so I kind of ignored it since I didn't wish to muddle this more)**

**If this was anyone else I probably would have ignored this but he has been a big help so I will give his request to you all since there is really only ONE chapter to make this choice and there are three options available to you all so please think on it.**

**Number one:**

**No, we like the harem as is and would rather you just write what you were going to write anyway. Nothing will change and Wave will end how I had already planned it to end.**

**Number two:**

**I do what I did with Ino and offer to replace Tayuya with Haku. I've already explained why I keep choosing Tayuya to replace, it's not that I don't like her she just is the easiest story wise to remove. This choice is really for those who don't want to see the harem get any bigger but don't mind the swap.**

**Number three:**

**I add one FINAL slot for Haku and add her into the harem. This option is for people who like really like Haku and want to see her more but don't want to lose out on Tayuya.**

** This would be the final addition to be clear, afterward, all other requests will be shut down and the harem closed (For any new last minute additions not adjustments) just in case people are worried if this will happen every time a new girl arrives. This option is my kind of offering to him and an out for you people who might like Haku but don't want anyone tossed out.**

**You have until next chapter to decide and I will hold off on writing it until I have a good idea of how people feel. You don't need to give a bunch of reasons for your choice (you can but it's not mandatory or anything) (Also same rule with the guest reviews applies here too)**

**Anyway if missed it and want to see where the harem stands right now go check out the AN at the bottom of the last chapter.**

**With that said I hope you enjoyed and I look forward to seeing you all next time to (hopefully) conclude the Wave Arc!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I own nothing and with that said please enjoy the chapter!**

**Hello and welcome to chapter 20! I know that technically this story has had more than 20 chapters but not including the old ANs and the Harem Guideline chapter this is the 20th chapter of actual content which is to me just a sign of how far this has come from my first short chapter. Thank you to everyone who has stuck with the story from the beginning and to the people who have joined along the way and have been very supportive and patient!**

**Anyway, I know you are all wondering what the results of the last chapter were but to avoid spoiling anything you'll know by the end as usual so enjoy and I'll see you all at the bottom.**

**Also... 14K words... kill me please lol.**

* * *

"You know for a punk brat you aren't too bad" Tazuna laughed as he sat back watching the blond and his clones move about the nearly finished bridge.

Naruto clicked his teeth and glared at the older man overseeing his work, "And you are just as bad as I would expect from an old drunk!" He shot back huffing at the amused expressions of the fellow workers who had grown used to the constant back and forth between the two.

Things had gone fairly smoothly after his little...outburst... a few days ago and Team Seven had quickly settled back into a routine.

Sakura was left to train since of the three she was the furthest behind but already she was beginning to show slight progress in her endurance and general stamina though she still had a long way to go before she could match either of her teammates in that department.

Satsuki was busy alternating between light training and guard duty, unlike Sakura she was mostly prepared so Kakashi had kept her rather close to base when she wasn't busy watching Tazuna.

And lastly, he was balancing guard duty, training, and patrolling on top of his clones working on the bridge though despite the workload he didn't mind running around all that much. With his help, the bridge was far ahead of schedule, the village, for the most part, was secure, and with his newfound understanding of the Great Breakthrough, steady progress had been made in regards to his training.

All in all, things seemed to be going pretty well, though Kakashi had taken them aside to give them some less than stellar news...

_***Flashback Start***_

_"I believe Zabuza will attack the bridge by the end of this week." Kakashi spoke seriously looking over the assembled trio who had tensed upon hearing his prediction._

_Sakura frowned, "What makes you so sure sensei?" _

_Kakashi sighed, "A couple of reasons, the greatest of which being the rate at which the bridge is nearing completion." He turned to face his whiskered student, "Your work on the bridge likely has Gato concerned and in turn, he'll put Zabuza under pressure to act quickly to prevent Tazuna from finishing, even if he's not back to one hundred percent just yet."_

_"Secondly," He continued, "It's unlikely Zabuza will be going in alone this time knowing now you three are more of a threat than he'd like to admit so he will almost certainly bring in his accomplice along to keep you busy."_

_The three frowned at that but nodded they had already expected to be left to deal with the fake hunter-nin._

_"Lastly, Zabuza will want revenge simple as that and he doesn't strike me as the type to wait long once he recovers enough to fight. He no doubt knows I'm still not back to full capacity either and so with you three out of the picture the odds are more balanced, if not tipped in his favor."_

_"I'm warning you three now so that you can be ready, if I'm wrong that's better for us but from now forward keep on your toes and make sure you're ready." _

_"Hai, Sensei!"_

_***Flashback Ends***_

They'd been on edge since then but trusted Kakashi hunch that Zabuza wouldn't make a move until near the end of the week so they still had a few more days to prepare.

"Oi! Quit your daydreaming and get those beams moving you brat!" Tazuna hollered shaking him from his thoughts.

"Stop yelling at me damn it!"

_At least things weren't boring._

* * *

_**"Fire Style: Grand Fireball no Jutsu!/Water Style: Water Bullet no Jutsu!" **_

_***Hissss!***_

Deep in the middle of the cloud of heated water vapor, Naruto and Satsuki clashed launching swift punches and vicious kicks at one another as they moved through the rapidly evaporating steam around them.

Dodging an overhead kick by the raven-haired girl he retaliated with a solid punch to her stomach but frowned when she managed to twist herself around and catch the incoming fist before striking back with an upward knee strike that he managed to block with his free arm.

The two reach a stalemate released one another and quickly back off returning once more to their sides of the clearing never once taking their eyes off each other.

He grinned and shook his arm slightly noting the slightly numb feeling where her knee had impacted against him, "That all you got, Princess?"

Satsuki smirked and fell back into her stance, "I should be asking you that, looks like you're slowing down a bit I barely felt that punch at all." She fired back.

That was a blatant lie she could feel her hand trembling slightly but she wouldn't dare give him the satisfaction in knowing that.

He didn't respond verbally but instead charged forward signaling the start of a new round of combat.

_One she was happy to oblige!_

She rushed to meet him and once more the two traded blows in the center of the clearing each scoring a few hits here and there as they slipped in and out of the others guard delivering punishment where they could and doing their best to avoid taking damage where possible.

She held a slight advantage in natural flexibility that allowed her to dodge more of his hits but every blow he landed felt like being smacked with a hammer and it took nearly all her concentration not to double over out of fear of getting locked into a devastating combo.

Naruto found himself taking more hits than he was landing, the differences in their size just made him a larger target but thankfully his training had toughened him up enough to withstand her assault and push back where he could.

That's not to say her hits didn't hurt, in fact, she hit just as hard as Kira did!

Just thankfully without the claws.

The two locked up once more each holding the other by the fist as they struggled to overpower one another, despite her smaller size Satsuki was able to match her teammate's strength due to her own intense training and slight chakra enhancement.

"Give up idiot you can't win!" She growled pushing him back slightly before buckling as he increased the pressure pushing back harder using his larger size to his advantage.

"You should already know I don't give up so easy!" He laughed and forced her back further getting a scowl of the Uchiha as she quickly found herself losing more and more ground.

She would lose at this rate if she didn't do something...

He watched her scowl morph into a subtle grin but had no time to question it as he suddenly found himself lurching forward when her resistant against him disappeared.

Satuski acted quickly using his forward moment she allowed them to tumble to the ground but before he could flatten her she flipped him overhead and onto the ground below turning his own strength against him to send him crashing to the earth.

Hard.

_***Thud***_

Naruto was barely aware of what just happened until his eyes refocused on the fist hovering just in front of his face and gleeful ebony eyes boring down into his own.

"I told you to give up." Her voice was strained but he could easily hear the satisfaction in her words as he glared back up at her.

He offered her a defiant grin, "I don't think so!"

Curling his body he swiftly wrapped his legs around her waist and pulled her off earning a sharp yelp at the sudden displacement and allowing him to quickly roll back onto his feet and tackle the downed heiress reversing their prior position though he was sure to keep her legs locked as he bore his weight against her.

His own fist now hovered inches from her nose and once the rush wore off he could practically taste the fury of her gaze.

"I think we can say this is my win eh, Princess?" He teased tightening his hold when he felt her body tense beneath him as she tried futilely to remove him.

She fought for a few more moments before finally giving in knowing that he'd outlast her if it came down to it.

"Tsk... fine you win this round." She ground out.

He laughed at her petulant expression "You have to admit that was fun." He chuckled and rolled off of her leaving the two of them lying peacefully on the grass while they caught their breaths and allowed the adrenaline to flush from their system. The sound of their breathing mixing into the gentle notes of the wind winding through the trees

She huffed from beside him, "I wouldn't call it fun... but it wasn't awful I guess." She begrudgingly conceded.

He chuckled knowing full well that she'd enjoy their little spar as much as he had, for all her brooding and talk there was little the Uchiha heiress enjoyed more than a good fight.

"You should be more open about what you enjoy Princess, you'd make more friends that way." He nudged her arm yelping playfully when she swiped at him.

"Idiot... I don't need friends, they'll just get in the way of goals." She looked back up at the sky above but her gaze was unfocused as though she wasn't really present in the moment but rather wrapped up in the past.

He frowned, "Everyone needs a friend, Princess." He sat up and scooted closer to the resting heiress, "What's life without people to enjoy it with?"

He already knew what life was like alone and he wouldn't wish that existence upon anyone.

She frowned, "People only bring unwanted distractions... I can't afford to let anything hold me back." Despite her words, she seemed unsure of herself as if not expressing a true belief but rather repeating a lesson she had long ago tried to teach herself.

"Do you think we hold you back?" He asked.

She paused at his question biting down her usual sarcasm at his serious expression, blue eyes seeking truth in her own.

_Did they hold her back?_

Kakashi was a non-issue barring his lackluster approach to training but she knew that in terms of strength she wasn't near his level, but at the same time, she couldn't consider the man a friend, maybe a potential mentor at the best of times.

Which honestly wasn't very often.

Sakura was almost a definite yes but she wasn't cruel enough to deny the girl had been trying to improve for what goal she didn't know and truthfully didn't care. That said, she acknowledged that she had slightly more respect for the pinkette than before they arrived.

And then there was him.

Her only rival, the only one she'd ever truly acknowledged anyway and whether he knew it or not there was a deeper meaning to that title than she cared to admit...

She stood abruptly catching his attention and scowled but it lacked the bite of genuine annoyance though there was frustration written across her face, "Tsk, we aren't friends I just tolerate you, that's all."

He watched her walk off back in the direction of the house clearly annoyed and frowned, he just had to open his big mouth...

He debated going after her but ultimately decided against it, hopefully with time she'd calm down better to apologize when she wasn't likely to try and beat his brains in.

Guess he would be coming home late again.

* * *

Dusting himself off he decided to take a stroll through the forest to calm his nerves allowing the scenery to pull him in and offer the slightest bit of clarity.

He idly wondered if all Konoha ninja felt a slight ease when in nature given their surroundings or perhaps it was just him.

_"Habataitara modoranai to itte"..._

He paused mid step as the sound of singing carried faintly through the trees, a soft almost unnoticeable whisper that slid gently through his ears under the whistlings winds.

_"Mezashita no wa aoi aoi ano sora..."_

Following the soft melody, he weaved through the trees allowing the music to guide him unconsciously humming along to the brief snippets he could catch above the sound of his own footsteps.

_"'Kanashimi' wa mada oboerarezu, _

_'setsunasa' wa ima tsukamihajimeta..."_

The singing grew louder as he drew closer, the small pieces coming together and ringing out more clearly than before, his own pace speeding up to match the tempo.

_"Anata e to idaku kono kanjou mo_

_Ima "kotoba" ni kawatte iku..."_

Stepping into one of the many clearings his eyes widened...

"Haku?!"

Sitting serenely in the middle of the grassy opening had been the object of his thoughts over the past week, he'd made it a point to search for her after his patrols but had no luck, even within the village he had not caught a glimpse of the pale beauty.

He had honestly never expected to meet her again.

She seemed unsurprised at his presence if anything she seemed pleased at his arrival offering him a small smile from her position on the ground, "It is good to see you again, Naruto-san."

He smiled and walked over to her happily placing himself by her side, "I thought I wouldn't see you again Haku-chan..." He grinned sheepishly, "I'm really glad I get to see you!"

She laughed faintly covering her own amusement with her sleeves, "Oh? Did I truly make such an impression?" She offered a mischievous smile, "You're aren't perhaps falling for me now. are you?" She leaned into his side doing her best not to laugh as he stiffened at her sudden closeness.

"N-No! Of course not!" He waved the idea off but only seemed to dig himself into a deeper hole when she lifted her head bringing them face to face, her delicate lips set into a slight frown.

"Really?" Her face was uncomfortably close to his own warm brown eyes boring intently into blue, "That's a shame..."

"Wh-What?!"

She pressed herself closer to him, the silky fabric of her kimono spilling onto him as their faces grew closer, so much so that he could feel her breath upon his skin setting his face alight.

Despite their position, she maintained a straight face as though she wasn't almost on top of him, "It's a shame because I think..." Her face gained a slight flush, "I think I might have fallen for you, Naruto-san..." She whispered her words softly into his ear.

That did it, any remaining higher brain functions immediately went down the drain as he tried desperately to process what he'd just heard.

"I-I...You wha...huh?!"

She couldn't hold it anymore and fell back laughing, her prior flush fading away in her fit of giggles that she tried desperately to cover with her sleeves with little success.

With his space free once more he managed to snap back to reality and pouted, "Haku-chan stop doing that!" He should have known better than to trust her not to tease him again.

Struggling to get her laughter under control she offered a slightly apologetic smile, "I'm sorry Naruto-san, I just can't help myself fufu, please do not take offense."

He huffed and crossed his arms, "You are so mean Haku-chan..."

She giggled and sat back up, "Ah... would a kiss perhaps make up for it?"

"I'm not falling for that Haku-chan." He glared at her earning another small chuckle from the dark-haired girl.

"It was worth a try." She smiled and sat next to him once more the two taking a moment to enjoy each other's presence.

"I didn't know you could sing Haku-chan?" He spoke softly remembering just what had led him to her in the first place, when she wasn't having fun at his expense she struck him as a rather quiet person.

She offered a bashful smile, "I do not do it often, unfortunately, I am not very skilled at singing but from time to time I have the urge to do so, I hope it did not worsen your opinion of me."

He quickly shook his head, "No not at all! I thought it was really good! You should do it more I think you'd do well maybe you could become a world-famous singer."

She laughed at his earnestness, "As tempting as that sounds I am content where I am, I don't think I could see myself doing anything else."

He tilted his head, "What is it you do Haku-chan? Last time we met you were gather herbs to make medicine are you some kind of doctor?"

She quickly waved his idea off, "No, nothing like that I just happen to have some experience with taking care of the sick and wounded but I am by no means a trained medic." She looked up at the thick canopy wistfully, "What I do is hard to describe but it is not what I do that matters as much as who I do it for in my opinion."

"Your precious person." He supplied earning a small smile from her.

"Yes, my precious person." She nodded, "There is nothing I would not do for them..."

He could feel her convictions, he truly believed that she meant every word she said that if they asked she would move the heavens if asked to.

He couldn't help but admire her for that.

"Naruto-san," She spoke up drawing him from his thoughts, "When I asked you about your precious people you mentioned your friends and those who needed your help but you never mentioned family, why?" Her questions caught him off guard.

He frowned, not at her but rather the topic itself, "I... I am an orphan Haku." He looked down at the grass at his feet so he missed the slight widening of her eyes, "I never met my parents and I don't have any family in the village so my friends are my precious people." He admitted

Amagi, Hinata, the Ichirakus, The Third, Kira, Shikari, Shino, Choji, Ino, Sakura, and even Satsuki, all of them had in their own ways turned his life around and he wasn't sure where he would be without them.

"I see... forgive me for prying Naruto-san." Her tone was apologetic and her head was bowed slightly, "I know how difficult talking of such things can be..."

He turned to face her, "Haku... are you?..."

She nodded confirming his thoughts from their last meeting, "I am an orphan as well, though I do remember my parents they are long gone." She said it with practiced ease as though she'd had to remind herself of such a fact regularly.

"They... passed when I was very young and for a while, I lived on the streets moving from place to place without purpose." She frowned clearly not fond of those memories, "Just when I was prepared to meet my end I met him... my most precious person."

She smiled fondly at the thought, "He took me in and gave me purpose once more... from that point on, I promised that I would do whatever it took to pay back that debt and help him achieve his own dreams. That is my goal, Naruto-san." She finished.

He nodded softly, "I'm sorry Haku-chan, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories." He apologized but she waved him off with a gentle look.

"I shared willingly Naruto-san, please do not feel upset." She reassured him earning a soft smile from him in return.

"If that is the case then it's only fair if I share a bit about myself as well."

She seemed surprised but nodded turning her full attention to him.

He sighed, "Like I said I never met my parents so I grew up in the local orphanage until I was old enough to be given my own place, but I wasn't like the other children... I was... I am hated in my home." He admitted gaining a soft gasp from the woman by his side.

"But why Naruto-san, you seem like a kind person much kinder than tales of shinobi had led me to believe?" She frowned, the whiskered blond didn't strike her as particularly odd in any fashion and certainly not hateable even if he was a bit soft for a ninja.

Not that she had any right to speak of such things.

He grinned ruefully, "For reasons out of my control and that I'm still grappling with now, but for the longest time I grew up not knowing why the adults would whisper behind my back, and why they'd take their children away from me, or deny me service in their shops, no one thought it necessary to tell me."

Haku for her part remained silent as he spilled his tale but internally she felt her heart go out to the boy beside her, his own story running nearly parallel to her own.

"For a while, I thought I'd never find my place..." He then gave a bright smile "But I guess like you, I found people that became important to me and now I want to protect them, you included Haku-chan." He grinned happily at her his words full of the passion she'd come to associate him with.

"It seems as though we both have some rather poor memories, Naruto-san... forgive me if it sounds rude... but I find it slightly comforting to share such a thing with you." She admitted.

He couldn't help but laugh at her embarrassed expression finding it refreshing to see her caught off guard for once, "Its okay Haku-chan I think I feel the same way, and on the bright side I think we've made a positive memory here and that's what matters."

She giggled and laughed with him, she appreciated his positivity it took a certain strength to laugh at the troubles in one's life and still smile, many lost the will to do so in a world as cruel as their own.

A world she was very much a part of...

Naruto's laughter came to an end when Haku slowly rose to her feet her face set into a small frown, her normally soft features were uncharacteristically dark.

"I enjoyed our time today Naruto-san, but I fear it is time for me to go..." She spoke softly but he felt there was more to her words than he truly understood.

"I see." He nodded and stood, "Thank you for coming back I really enjoyed this, getting to know you I mean."

She gave him a demure smile one full of happiness but tinged with deep sadness, "Of course... life is a fickle thing the chances you don't take today may not be available for you tomorrow."

Under her sleeves, steel shifted slightly waiting for the command to sever the fragile strings of life. She stared at the boy standing before her and war raged in her heart.

She had her orders... he was an obstacle to her master plans, his desires...

"Naruto-san... I fear I may not have the opportunity to see you again." Her voice cracked slightly but her training allowed her to cover it though it did little to alleviate the guilt from the deflated expression upon his face.

"So if I may..." She stepped forward into his space and to his surprise gently wrapped her arms around him in a soft hug, pulling him close, "I'd like to leave here with no regrets..."

Normally he'd be seven different shades of red at her proximity, but the sadness in her voice stilled his embarrassment out of concern, "Haku-chan... I promise we'll see each other again this isn't goodbye." Once the bridge was safe he'd find her and they could talk again, maybe exchange letters or something.

She merely held him tighter hiding her face over his shoulder to conceal her pained expression.

_Such a naive boy..._

She pulled back and to his shock, placed her lips gently against his cheek her own warmth connecting briefly with his and offered him one last smile not full of her usual mischief but rather a grim resignation.

"I'd like that but be careful of the promises you make they won't always turn out the way you'd expect, Naruto-kun..."

Before he could respond she dashed away, ignoring his calls for her to come back.

_Please… forgive me..._

* * *

His encounter with Haku had left him in a less than stellar mood something his team seemed to pick up on upon his return with Sakura offering him concerned glances every so often and Satsuki outright ignoring him.

He was thankful for that right now, he didn't feel like having another outburst.

_Why did she run and why did she make it sound like they could never see each other again? _

_Was she in trouble and if so why wouldn't she tell him?_

The more he thought about it the more frustrated he became.

"Naruto," Kakashi called out to him, "I don't want to interrupt whatever has you worked up but I need you to calm down, tomorrow is the day and I can't have you going into battle sloppy."

He didn't want to be tough on the usually easy going blond but now was no time for a temper tantrum regardless of the circumstances.

Naruto blinked but nodded, right he had a mission to do and as much as he didn't like saying it Haku had to wait until after Zabuza was dealt with. Going into a fight like this distracted was a death sentence.

"Sorry, Sensei I'll be ready." He reassured his leader who nodded approvingly content that his student wasn't going to break down on him.

"Good, we leave at dawn tomorrow no doubt Zabuza will already be waiting for us, so make sure you have everything you need and get a good rest. That goes for you two as well." He gestured to Sakura and Satsuki who nodded and the trio excused themselves to prepare.

Round two was on the horizon.

* * *

Team Seven and Tazuna approached the bridge carefully, the early morning sun having only peeked over the horizon only an hour prior and true to their word they'd quickly left the house shortly after.

Bathed in the somewhat eerie light of dawn the natural fog that tended to consume the village seemed especially haunting and given their opponent they had every right to be on edge.

The group slowly but surely made their way through the mist, the soft earth beneath them giving way to cold hard concrete as they passed the threshold marking natural land from man-made design.

Their walk continued in silence, the quiet working both with and against them reducing the chance of something catching them off guard while simultaneously grinding against their nerves.

"Ugh... help... please..." A hoarse voice called out through the mist soon accompanied by more pained groans and whispers.

"_Monster_..."

"_Demon_..."

"_Death_..."

Then all at once, the voices stopped and the mist lifted if only slightly, to reveal dozens of bodies strewn about. Workers left dangling limply off the side of the half-finished bridge or cut up and left to bleed out along the dull concrete greeted them.

Kakashi narrowed his eye disturbed by the scene but pushing past his disgust to look for any sign of the culprit after all this scene had to have been laid out for them.

He didn't need to look very far.

Zabuza stepped out of this mist his massive blade seated firmly upon his shoulder its edge stained a dull crimson, a clear declaration of intent.

More blood would be spilled today.

"I was worried you might not show, perhaps you'd come to your senses and realize that this all wasn't worth the trouble." The blade-wielding mercenary grinned beneath his bandages, "I'm glad you proved me wrong."

From the mist, three copies of Zabuza emerged surrounding the group, each hunched over cleavers at the ready to butcher their opponents at a moments notice.

Kakashi tensed but maintained his generally jovial disposition, "Glad we could meet your expectations, perhaps we'll exceed them this time." He slid a kunai from his sleeve into his hand and gripped the handle tightly while he stared down his current adversary.

Zabuza chuckled, "Let's see how long you can keep that attitude up Kakashi, maybe seeing your brats cut down will give you a reality check." He raised his sword and the clones rushed forward their own blades drawn preparing to cut them to shreds.

Kakashi frowned, "Satsuki, go for it."

The Uchiha heiress nodded drawing two of her own kunai and disappearing in a sudden burst of speed falling upon the first of clones, sliding easily into its guard she drove her own kunai into its throat while keeping her momentum she pivoted on her heel and launched the two kunai right at the remaining clones the steel daggers sinking deep into the flesh of the clones dispersing them into harmless puddles of water moments before they could reach the rest of her team.

Finishing her rotation she drew another kunai and launched it directly at the real Zabuza who watched impassively as the throwing knife careened towards him.

Before the blade could reach its target it was plucked unceremoniously from the air by another familiar figure, the masked hunter-nin materializing from the dense fog held the blade harmlessly within the hand tossing it back at the Uchiha who caught it in turn, narrowing her eyes at the new arrival.

Zabuza seemed amused by the little game and turned slightly to his partner, "They've improved... they might almost prove worth your time."

The masked-nin said nothing for a moment before nodding, "Improved or not... they must be put down."

Zabuza offered his own nod of approval before turning back to Kakashi, "You and I have a score to settle, I hope your brats can hold out long enough, I'd like to watch them fall." He laughed darkly and drew his blade before falling back deeper into the mist knowing the Copy-ninja would find him for their final bout.

Kakashi frowned, "Sakura stay with Tazuna let nothing get passed you... Satsuki and Naruto I expect you to handle this." His instructions were met with determined nods from his team and with that he shot forward into the mist blitzing past the masked-nin who made no move to interrupt his charge.

Sakura hurriedly pulled Tazuna back knowing full well they'd only be liabilities in the battle to come.

Satsuki and Naruto watched their own opponent carefully, whoever they were they held an advantage in this encounter, likely familiar with fighting in the heavy mist not to mention the fact that they had been a witness of their first encounter with Zabuza giving them a general idea of their fighting styles and available jutsu.

Meanwhile, they knew next to nothing other than their opponent was skilled with senbon and judging by their earlier display was just as fast if not faster than they were.

Satsuki's eyes widened when the masked-nin vanished before them and she was forced to put up a hasty block against an incoming kick to her head, wincing as the bones in her arm strained under the sudden pressure.

By her side, Naruto tried to separate the two striking out at the masked-nin unprotected back but found himself attacking air as they vanished once more before he doubled over in pain with a fist found itself lodged firmly into his stomach.

Fighting through the pain he grabbed the offending fist and launched a counter-attack intending to drive his own fist right into his assailant's masked face but similarly found himself caught leaving the two deadlocked.

Satsuki grit her teeth and rushed in hoping to use the opening to put their masked opponent down quickly but was caught off guard when rather than try to escape the masked-ninja literally uprooted her teammate breaking his hold and tossing him into her catching them both off guard and sending them crashing harshly into the concrete.

Despite their surprise, they managed to roll to their feet just in time to avoid becoming pincushions small razor sharp needles sinking deep into the ground where they'd previously lain.

"This isn't working!" He growled, taking a moment to catch his breath.

Satsuki clicked her teeth, "Obviously... we need to limit his space, wear him down and end this fast." They were clearly outclassed in speed and their enemy was no slouch in the strength department.

If they wanted to win they needed to pin him down and end it in one shot.

He nodded and gathered his chakra.

_**"Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"**_

Instantly the two were surrounded by henged clones, each armed with kunai and shuriken in hand and more than ready to swarm their target at a moments notice.

If they couldn't win through skill than they'd overrun their enemy.

"_Charge!_"

The clones raced forward in a sea of black and yellow as copies of the whiskered Uzumaki and raven-haired Uchiha stampeded their way towards the masked-ninja who merely braced themselves before meeting the hoard head on.

Untamed ferocity clashed with cold efficiency as the hoard tried relentlessly to bury their opponent under a tidal wave of kicks, punches, and knives. In the middle of the mosh pit, senbon stabbed and bored through clone after clone tearing through the opposition like paper, those that managed to avoid being implied found their lives cut short by precise blows.

Smoke melded with mist as more and more of the clones were dispelled obscuring any possible view of the action from those not within the eye of the brawl.

Within the crowd, Naruto and Satsuki watched and waited for an opening growing hopeful as they watched their opponent begin to tire and the clones grow more successful with each rush.

Just a little longer and they'd be able to move in for easy cleanup.

However, before their celebration could come to a head, the masked nin jumped high into the air their hands blurring through hand seals.

_**"Secret Technique: A Thousand Needles of Death!"**_

Pulling on the moisture from the mist hundreds of hair-thin liquid needles surrounded the masked-nin who took aim at the swarm below, the array of makeshift blades hanging still in the air, before with a single forward gesture, the cloud of needles began to rain down upon the defenseless army below cutting mercilessly through the previously successful clone assault.

Seeing the imminently approaching danger Naruto and Satsuki quickly bolted through the mass of dying clones using their bodies as shields to absorb as much of the damage as possible and reaching the edge nearly unscathed barring a few new pointed additions to their person that they'd been unable to avoid.

There went their easy victory...

The masked nin landed softly surveying their work, where once an army stood only two remained.

"I commend you," The Masked-nin spoke addressing them directly for the first time, "Your resolve is impressive... however I can not allow you to leave this bridge and interfere further." He paused and drew another volley of senbon, "I will do my best to finish this quickly"

The three stared each other down for a few moments before once more charging each other.

_**-With Kakashi and Zabuza-**_

Kakashi ducked and weaved his way out of Zabuza's strikes, his sharingan spinning wildly as it worked to predict incoming attacks but with the mist distorting his vision he couldn't rely solely on the eye.

_***CLANG!***_

The two locked up Zabuza's massive blade grinding against Kakashi's kunai while the two struggled to push one another back.

"I'm impressed Kakashi," Zabuza growled pushing harder against his opponent, "It seems your reputation isn't as exaggerated as it seems." The two broke apart and stood once more across from one another.

Kakashi nodded but never took his eyes off his opponent, "What's your goal Zabuza?" Ignoring the compliment to instead probe his enemy for information, "There are other jobs for a shinobi of your caliber so why risk so much here?"

Missing-nin above all else tended to value their lives more than even the money they could bring in, the fact that despite being nearly killed before Zabuza remained hinted at one of two things.

Either he was just that confident he could complete the job or...

There was a hidden motive.

To his credit, Zabuza gave nothing away merely leaning forward his sword draped dangerously along his shoulders, "If you have time to wonder about my motivations that than clearly, you aren't taking me seriously enough."

He growled and faded back into the mist his voice echoing from the thick miasma, "I'll work to correct that."

And with that, the time for talk was over and the sound of metal against metal rang out across the bridge once more...

_**-With Satsuki and Naruto-**_

"To your left!" She shouted.

Her teammate didn't hesitate and launched himself to his right narrowly avoiding being impaled by yet another barrage of seemingly endless needles.

The two were starting to look worse for wear, despite having slowed their opponent down somewhat they just couldn't match his speed, it was only their coordination that had prevented either of them from being completely overwhelmed.

At this rate, they would lose and if one of them went down even for a moment...

She balled her fist tight and made her way to his side the two subconsciously trying to cover their blind spots while their target employed hit and run tactics taking advantage of the thick mist.

"We can't keep this up much longer, Naruto." She could feel exhaustion setting in as she pried a few needles from her arm for once thankful for her shorter stature.

Naruto wasn't as lucky but thankfully seemed less bothered by the array of metal sticking into him though she imagined it was just as painful as it looked.

"I know..." He frowned, "I have an idea to force them out into the open, do you have any more explosive tags?"

She narrowed her eyes but nodded pulling out five kunai with tagged handles, "You aren't going to blow us all to kingdom come are you?"

Despite the situation, he chuckled, "I'm not that bad, but on my signal, I need you to set them off, low power just need a spark." He could practically feel her frown but if this worked then they'd have more room to breathe.

"Where?"

He grinned, "You'll see." He brought his hands up and formed a familiar cross seal.

_**"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"**_

Rather than summon another army, only 5 clones appeared surrounding the two in a star formation each.

"One for every clone Princess!" He shouted promoting the Uchiha to activate the tags before launching them in direction of each clone the knives sailing past them glowing a soft orange as their timers counted down.

"_Now!_"

_**"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" **_

Five simultaneous shouts broke rang out as the five clones huffed out the technique propelling the knives outward just in time for the tags to count down.

From within the mist, beneath her mask, Haku's eyes widened and she made a mad dash away from what she knew was coming, chakra surging through her legs as she literally threw herself as far away as possible from the incoming explosion.

The tags blew in the epicenter of the respective wind tunnels and nature took over from there.

A roaring ring of fire exploded outward from the duo as the winds fed the flames which merged into one large tidal wave of crimson that simultaneously ate away at the moisture in the air and dispersed a large amount the mist surrounding them leaving nowhere to hide.

Feeling the residual heat from their combo Satsuki couldn't help but look on smugly, she doubted they actually finished their opponent with that but she would have paid to see the look on their face.

She also planned to question her blond teammate on where he'd pulled out a wind jutsu out of but filed that under things to do after they made it out of this.

That line of thinking reasserted itself as the fake Hunter-nin appeared once more though they'd quickly noticed the less than perfect state of their clothing, dark burned patches, and frayed sleeves informed them that he hadn't gotten away completely unscathed from their assault which brought them a small measure of satisfaction.

That was... unpleasant." The Masked-nin spoke evenly though they could detect a tinge of annoyance, "I can no longer afford to draw this out."

Satsuki clicked her teeth and drew her kunai, "Say that after you manage to take us out, right now I'd say we're pretty even."

"No..." The masked-nin brought their hands together in a familiar seal, "This ends now..."

_**"Water Style: Hidden Mist no Jutsu!"**_

Despite their efforts, the amount of water beneath them proved more than ample enough to overcome the pocket of dry air they'd created and within moments the two were once more drowned in a sea of blanket fog cutting off their sight lines.

_**"Secret Technique: Crystal Ice Mirrors!"**_

"What the..." Naruto's frown deepened when from the mist dozens of thin mirror-like objects emerged surrounding them in a sort of dome.

The Masked-nin stepped back and to their shock proceed to walk into the mirror behind them, their reflection suddenly appearing in each mirror, all staring down at them.

"Understand I take no joy in this..." Each reflection raised their arm in preparation, "But for the sake of my mission... I will cut you down here."

Satsuki gasped in pain as the two suddenly found themselves riddled with needles, the attack coming faster than they'd managed to register as the Masked-nin seemed to phase from mirror to mirror with each jump launching a new volley down at the now overwhelmed shinobi below.

_"Do not resist."_

"GAH!" Naruto screamed as more needles found a home in his flesh, digging painfully through his skin and cutting through his clothing.

_"Give in please."_

"AHHH!" She felt her nerves come alight in pain, the multitude of senbon taking their toll upon her limps anything that wasn't numb felt like it was on fire.

_"Just let go."_

"_**SHUT THE HELL UP!**_" Naruto roared calling his chakra forward with such force that it pushed some of the senbon out of his skin, "Satsuki, fire!"

Pushing past the pain she nodded and the two ran through their own seals.

_**"Fire Style: Grand Fireball no Jutsu!/Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!**_

Wind combined violently with fire once more as the two techniques merged together mid-flight into a raging inferno that lit the bridge up in a brilliant display of gold and crimson that barreled without care into the wall of mirrors.

_***BOOOM!***_

In the middle Naruto and Satsuki shielded their eyes as smoke and steam rushed passed, the force of the explosion almost knocking them over if not for a quick application of chakra.

With bated breath, the two watched anxiously as the smoke began to clear the shroud of darkness lifting to reveal...

A few hairline cracks in the mirrors where the fire had struck directly but otherwise the technique held.

Satsuki felt her legs give from under her the pain, exhaustion, and now despair all hitting at once, "How..."

_Were they really going to die here, is this as far as she could go?_

"You fought honorably, as I said I take no pleasure in this... you just chose the wrong side." The Masked-nin spoke softly from the array of mirrors.

"And your side is right?!" Naruto growled fighting past his own exhaustion, "Trampling over those who want to live in peace... aiding a tyrant... throwing innocent lies away... is that what defines you?!"

"I am defined by the will of my master, I am the tool that will aid his ambitions. If I must kill my heart to do so..." There was a pause, "Then I will do what I must so that he may succeed." Their tone was resolute but there was an undercurrent of pain in their words.

Beneath the Mask unseen by all a single tear fell...

"I will remember you..."

Steel rained from the sky in waves and in turn blood painted the ground a dull red as Satsuki and Naruto tried and failed to deflect the never-ending assault.

Naruto fell to his knees after a particularly nasty volley managed to make its way into his calf, his leg going numb and sending him tumbling over.

"Get up, Idiot!" Satsuki screamed while deflecting yet another hail of senbon.

She had figured out that their target was jumping from mirror to mirror and was now working to figure out just where they were attacking from, with each move she'd slowly but surely gotten better at tracking the moves, the outline of their opponent growing more clear.

_Right...up... left... right... lower left... upper right..._

She never noticed her normal coal black eyes bleed red, two small tomoe appearing in her right while one appeared in her left.

_Lower left... top right... straight across... behind..._

The outline began to fill and the body shape became clear.

_Bottom right, top left, straight across, lower left..._

_Next should be... there!_

She could see the Masked-nin melt into the top right mirror and take aim, preparing for their next attack...

Right at Naruto's downed form!

She watched in muted horror as the needles flew her eyes watching in slow motion as the blades careened towards the blond who'd been left immobile.

_He was wouldn't be able to move in time!_

Naruto's felt his hair stand on end, despite not being able to see it, he could feel the attack coming but his legs refused to move no matter how much he screamed the limbs refused to obey.

This was it.

He closed his eyes, he would face it dignity if nothing else.

_I'm sorry everyone..._

He waited but nothing came, no pain, not even slight discomfort.

_**Drip... drip... drip...**_

He felt something wet and warm drip softly along his face, sliding down his cheeks and forcing him to open his eyes.

He wished he'd kept them closed.

"S-Satsuki!"

"I... I thought... you didn't give up... so easily... Idiot..." She laughed as blood leaked from the corners of her mouth, her ruby red eyes locked onto his own.

Standing leaned over him, having used her own body to shield his her back was littered with needles, needles that had been intended for him...

"Why?!" He caught her as she finally collapsed into his arms, holding her gently uncaring of the blood seeping into his clothes, "Why... why did you do it?!"

He never asked her to take a hit for him!

She gave him a weak smirk, "Don't know... my body just moved on its own..." She coughed hacking up gobs of blood as she did so, "Guess... I'm not as smart as I thought..."

Her vision was fading despite her best efforts to remain awake...

_Is this what death was like?_

"Hey..." She spoke softly never taking her eyes off of him, "Can I ask you something... before I go?..."

"Shut up! You aren't going anywhere!"

_Hehe... Kami he was such a crybaby… _

She laughed but it came out more like a wheezing gurgle, "Don't be stupid... just tell me..." She took his hand in hers, "Do you... did you hate me?..."

He sobbed and shook his head, "No! Of course not!"

She found the strength to smile even as her grip grew weaker, "I'm... glad... and I'm sorry... for everything..."

"Don't apologize, don't you dare do that now!" He shook violently as her eyes began to close, "You aren't going to die here! Do you understand me?!"

She ignored him, "Just so you know... I did see you as a friend ... so promise me... you'll live okay?...

_Promise_...

Her grip went slack and the light faded from her eyes, ruby orbs gradually fading back to black.

"Princess... Princess wake up!... Please... wake up!..." He sobbed into her cooling body trying desperately to share his own warmth with her.

...

"Is this the first time you've lost a comrade?" The Masked-nin's voice broke the silence, "She gave her life for yours... she has my respect even if ultimately it changes nothing."

Naruto grit his teeth in fury, "How dare you..."

Beneath his hoodie the seal upon his stomach flared, dark red wisps of chakra leaking maliciously from the ink.

"You..."

From behind the mask, brown eyes widened as blood red chakra erupted from the kneeling blond, the arcs of crimson energy trashed wildly, slamming into the mirrors with reckless abandon.

_**"I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!" **_

Haku gasped as the blond vanished and the sound of ice shattering assaulted her ears.

He'd broken a mirror... no he was breaking _all _the mirrors!

She watched in fear as the blond tore through mirrors like a rampaging beast not at all interested in escaping but with the sole purpose of finding her and making good on his promise.

She needed to put him down now!

She launched herself forward her arm bent and ready to strike but she'd made one fatal miscalculation.

_She assumed she was still faster than he was._

Her eyes widened in shock and fear when she felt a clawed hand grab harshly onto her ankle a low growl being her only warning before her world erupted in pain.

_So much pain!_

Naruto roared in fury as he slammed his teammates killer into the ground, cracking the concrete below as he used their body like a bludgeon beating them into the ground.

One slam, two slams, three slams, four!

_**"RAHHHHHHHHHH!" **_

Haku couldn't even scream the pain was so immense, she felt her bones crack and shift as she was mercilessly beaten before a feeling of weightlessness overtook her.

_He'd thrown her..._

She hit the ground face first her mask thankfully taking the full brunt of the impact and her body rolled dangerously approached the edge of the bridge she flooded her system with what little chakra she had left just barely avoiding falling into the sea below.

Looking into the burning red eyes peering down at her though... perhaps it would have been better if she had.

She could offer no resistance as the blond pulled her up harshly by her collar, his slit eyes reflecting nothing but anguish and raw rage.

"I'm sorry..." She whispered.

She truly was, she never wanted any of this she didn't want to hurt anyone... but she had, she'd taken away that which was precious to another and so she'd accept the consequences.

Despite his rage, he paused, ignoring the voice screaming in his ear demanding vengeance, demanding blood.

_**"Then why did you do it?..."**_

She noted his voice was guttural, just as animalistic as the rest of him appeared, but even then he was still the boy he'd come to know.

"...Because my precious person asked me to."

She saw him stiffen and reach for her now damaged mask, clawed fingers moving with a softness almost impossible to imagine given his earlier savagery. She offered no resistance as he removed the only cover to her identity and allowed herself to look unhindered into his own slit eyes.

_**"Haku? What...why?!"**_

She offered a pained smile, "Because there is nothing I wouldn't do for him."

_**"Zabuza is your precious person.**_" He whispered more to himself than her, _**"Why would you follow him? Why would you follow that monster!"**_ His anger returned but it was tinged with confusion.

"I told you, he gave me purpose again..." Her smile never fell even as he held her life in his hands, "I did not lie to you when I said I was an orphan, however, I did not tell you the full story."

He didn't interrupt her so she continued, "I was born with a curse, a curse my mother passed down onto me, my full name is Haku Yuki, of the Yuki clan, wielders of Ice Release."

"My family was from Mizu no Kuni, a place of prejudice and hate for those who carry '_devils blood_' their word for bloodlines. My mother managed to flee undiscovered and met my father on her travels out of the country, she fell in love and decided that she'd run far enough, after all, no one knew she carried the bloodline so she should be safe."

Haku smiled ruefully, "If I could I wish I could have told her to keep running."

Naruto listened quietly his eyes having returned to their usual deep blue through his pupils maintained their slit appearance.

"Life took its course and eventually they had me and for a time things were good... until my bloodline decided to manifest inside of me. In my joy, I showed my mother who looked at me in horror before striking me and telling me I must never use my ability again, especially in front of my father."

Her smile fell and Naruto felt a heavy pit form in his stomach, "I followed her rules but somehow my father still found out... he arrived in our home with a mob and grabbed my mother... she pleaded to him to remember the love they had for one another, that she wasn't a monster but the woman he loved..."

"He killed her anyway." Tears leaked from her eyes as she remembered the lifeless form of her mother, "Then he moved to me, his own child meant less than rumors and he was going to end my life just as he did my mother."

"I wish I could say he had a change of heart and banished me, or gave his life to let me escape... but I've never been so fortunate." Her smile returned but he could see how forced it was, "In my panic, my bloodline acted in my defense and I... I killed everyone there." She admitted.

"I wandered the streets for days with nothing to my name except the blood on my hands and nothing to live for..." She looked at him, "Can you understand? Not having a dream… not being needed by anyone… The pain of merely being alive?"

He nodded and she smiled with sorrow, she knew why his eyes reminded her so much of her own... under that smile she'd seen pain.

"Then you are aware... that the most painful thing in this world… is knowing that your existence is not needed... that you mean nothing to anyone..."

Her gaze grew resolute, "He saved me from that, he gave me purpose again and for that, I willingly became his tool."

"However, I have failed... I am a broken tool... I could not follow through with my master's will." She frowned, "There is no place for broken tools in this world, Naruto." She placed her hand around his, "So I am asking you not as your enemy but as a fellow shinobi."

"Please... kill me."

His eyes widened at her request, "What?!"

She nodded, "It is as I said there is no need for broken tools in this world... if I can not be of use to him than I'd rather die than become a burden."

He couldn't understand that! How could she make such a request?!

"I-I'm not going to kill you Haku!"

She tilted her head, "Even though I am responsible for own teammates death?" She saw him flinch at the reminder while his grip became unsteady and she lamented sadly that all she'd ever accomplished in life was bringing others pain.

"Please... if you could find it in you to grant me this one kindness" She smiled softly as though to reassure him, "I think I could go in peace."

He shuddered at her graceful acceptance.

_How could a person be so serene when asking for death?!_

He dropped her allowing her body to fall like a puppet with its strings cut, his face scrunched up in anger, "No! It doesn't have to end that way, no one else has to die!"

She couldn't help but laugh drawing his attention, "You are a terrible shinobi Naruto-kun... but I think that makes you special."

She paused when the crackle of lightning reached her ears, a soft blue glow shining through the mist like a beacon. Her heart pounded in her chest at the sight that filled her with anxiety.

"Forgive me Naruto-kun, it seems I can still be useful."

He barely had time to register her words before she'd sprung into a sprint, defying her protesting bones and sputtering coils as she ran towards the light, the mist parting in her wake as the form of Kakashi and Zabuza came slowly into view.

Her eyes narrowed as the Copy-ninja sprinted at the immobilized form of Zabuza, his hand covered a ball of screeching electricity that cracked and cackled aimed directly as Zabuza's heart.

_She wouldn't allow it!_

Kakashi's sharingan eye widened as the false Hunter-nin slowly came in between his target, the dojutsu capturing their every step in vivid detail giving him a hauntingly close view of the resigned but contented smile upon their face as they sprinted between the charged plasma coating his hand and his opponent.

He would run through her like paper.

_**"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**_

Kakashi, Zabuza, and Haku were unprepared for the hurricane-like winds that slammed into them, the sudden gust blew Kakashi's aim off his technique glancing past his new targets torso, shocking her but sparing her the pain of being impaled.

That was a small mercy to the sensation the three experienced of being scattered in the current and thrown onto the pavement.

Haku's vision swam with tears as her body twitched and spasmed upon the cold hard floor, her hands clutching her new burns tightly trying to gain some measure of relief, the punishment her body suffered finally proving too great to overcome as consciousness began to slip away.

Through her tears she caught sight of Zabuza slowly rising to his feet, his bandages falling away leaving his face uncovered.

She took comfort in the knowledge that she'd proved useful one last time before her eyes rolled into her head and she knew no more...

Zabuza stared down at the downed form of Haku, his face set into a small almost unnoticeable frown.

"Haku... a fine tool indeed..."

Kakashi groaned and tried to regain his balance, he'd put his all into that last jutsu and he wasn't sure how much longer he'd be able to keep this up.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the culprit for their sudden airborne adventure rush forward taking in his charges altered appearance, had the Kyuubi begun influencing the boy?...

"Sensei! Are you alright?!"

Well influenced or not at least he appeared to be in control.

He sighed as the blond approached and helped him to his feet, allowing the larger man to rest against him, "I'm okay, but why are you here? Where is Satsuki?"

Naruto frowned and looked away guilt clear in his eyes, "She... she took a hit for me..."

"I see..." Outwardly he did not react but he could feel his fist clenching in fury, unfortunately, his body did not have the energy to act on his anger and he knew that anger had no place on the battlefield.

That didn't make his failure any less poignant.

"Looks like I owe you a thank you brat." The gruff voice of Zabuza brought the two back to attention, drawing an irate look from Kakashi and one of pure anger from the blond, "I was in quite a bind, but you and Haku proved invaluable."

"You would have made for a good tool." He praised

Naruto growled at the word, it set his blood alight at the causal way Zabuza seemed to dismiss just how far Haku was willing to go for him, "Is that all you see people as?... As things for you to use!?"

He snarled his eyes bleeding back to crimson, "She killed herself on the inside for you... nearly gave her life for you... and you don't even care!"

Zabuza glared at the mouthy brat, "What do you think ninja are boy?! We are all tools, we serve our villages as weapons to be used and discarded at a whim." He sneered revealing shark like pointed teeth, "To throw away our humanity is what it means to be a shinobi, Haku knew that."

"I refuse to believe that!" He roared back, "Being a ninja doesn't have to mean we forget who we are that we forget how to feel! You were with her for so long... so how is it that you don't seem to know her at all?!"

"Watch your tone brat!" He snarled.

Naruto was long past caring about threats however, "She is more than you'll ever be... She never lost sight of who she was even when you were pulling her down trying to make her into something she wasn't." His eyes locked sadly onto the motionless body of the girl in question.

"You don't deserve her."

Zabuza was quiet his eyes locked onto the child he'd raised from a scared little girl to a young lady...

_Zabuza-sama look what I found! It made me think of you hehe~_

He'd never bothered to compliment her...

_Zabuza-sama I did it, soon I'll be able to be of use to you!_

Had he fallen so far that he'd lost sight of why he was on this path?...

_I'll serve you to the end of my days, Zabuza-sama!_

He glared back into those defiant blue eyes, "You are a weird one you know that... you are just like her, to soft for your own good." Despite his harsh words, there was an undercurrent of respect there, "But you're right... I don't..." Whatever else he was going to say was cut off by the sound of sarcastic clapping coming from the end of the bridge.

"How touching, is the 'Demon' having a change of heart?" A sleazy voice called out from the mist interrupting the moment between them, "You really are worthless." Gato stepped out from the mist, behind him a small army of thugs armed to the teeth waited with confident grins, "It would be a waste to pay you when I can just do the job myself for free."

Zabuza growled, "So that's how you want to play this..."

Gato smirked, "I'm a businessman Zabuza, you can't get anywhere without capitalizing on the opportunities presented to you!"

Zabuza clicked his teeth in annoyance, he should have seen this coming, "Kakashi, it appears I have no more reason to fight you."

Kakashi sighed shook his head, "You couldn't have decided that before we were all tired and exhausted?"

Zabuza smirked, "Now where would the fun be in that?" He turned his gaze to the blond, "Brat lend me a kunai would ya, this was my job and I'll finish it."

Naruto frowned but nodded and tossed a kunai to the injured shinobi who caught it between his teeth, his arms having long since become too weak to hold his famed blade.

Zabuza smirked around the blade as he began to hobble towards the approaching thugs, "Also... brat, I need you to do me one last favor...from one shinobi to another." He called taking a look over his shoulder at the boy who'd reminded him what it meant to be human.

_That was worth acknowledging._

"Take care of her for me, and tell her... tell her I'm sorry that I couldn't be better..."

He didn't wait for a reply as he summoned what strength he had left to mount a final charge, his chakra forming the infamous shroud that had earned him the nickname, 'Demon of the Hidden Mist'"

_**"RAHHHHH!"**_

Gato watched with horror as his men fell like flies those that hadn't run off in terror found themselves being gutted like animals, falling one by one and painting the ground with their blood.

Zabuza smiled through the pain as his body was littered with all manner of swords, knives, spears, and daggers anything the thugs could get their hands on to try and put him down, but he just wouldn't stop.

_Not until they were all dead._

"How?! How are you standing?! Why the hell won't you just die?!"Gato raged as he crawled away in fear from the looming shinobi towering over him, How had it all gone so wrong?!

"Because you and me... we have an appointment to keep, one that's long overdue!" Gato screamed as cold steel ripped into him, his life-sustaining liquid pouring from his wound.

"I'll be looking for you in hell." Zabuza placed his foot on the dying tyrants head ignoring the dying man's curses and pleas, "Try not to cause too much trouble before I get there."

Gato could only wheeze out a choked reply, his beady bloodshot eyes stuck in an expression of agony before all at once his body went limp, and the life faded from his prone form.

Gato was dead and Wave was finally free...

Zabuza looked on impassively at the dead body of his former employer, his own vision growing fuzzy and unsteady as his wounds began to take their toll on him.

His time was almost up...

He shuffled his way back... back to Haku's side where Naruto and Kakashi were guarding both the path to the village and the still unconscious body of his charge.

Soon to be ex-charge.

Naruto frowned and opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the gruff ninja, "Save your breath kid... I've made my peace, no use crying over it."

He looked down at the serene face of his charge her soft features blurring as he grew closer to the end, "Haku..." He took her smaller hand in his "I know you're gonna tear yourself to pieces for this... but I know you'll find a new purpose one day... I couldn't be more proud of you and I'm sorry that I never got the chance to tell you that."

He turned to the duo at his side specifically the boy he'd entrusted his daughter in all but blood to, "I have no business saying this given my actions... but if you hurt her know that when your time comes I'll be there to personally drag you to hell myself."

"I promise that I won't let anything happen to her."

"Hmph... good."

Zabuza sighed as darkness began to overtake him, "I'm glad I met you... to have the chance to die not as a demon... but a human being... I thought I'd lost that right long ago."

"I guess even monsters can have a second chance..."

And with a smile on his face, Zabuza the Demon of the Hidden Mist, passed away not as a weapon...

But as a man.

"Sensei..." Naruto spoke softly looking at the now dead legend before them, "Was he right... about ninja just being tools, is that all we are?"

Kakashi sighed, "It's complicated, but in many ways, he wasn't wrong." As cruel as it sounded that was the life of a shinobi, to protect, serve, kill and die for one's home.

It was a harsh system but it was the one they had.

"I see..." He frowned, "I hope one day... that it doesn't have to be like that anymore."

Kakashi nodded by his side, "I would like to see that day."

"Sensei?"

"Yes, Naruto?

"I'm going to pass out now."

"Understandable, get some rest."

_He was out like a light shortly after._

* * *

**AN. Chapter complete!**

**I'm so, so tired lol. There was a lot in this chapter and I think of every chapter I've written it had the most in it both combat wise and story wise. I'm happy to get it out but at the same time looking at it almost hurts now.**

**I also want to apologize for the abrupt ending or if things feel a bit rushed or sporadic but due to hard personal stuff going on that I will touch upon at the end I kind of hard to wrap everything up somewhat suddenly. If there are major problems with the chapter (grammar, wrong name in a situation, etc) please PM me so I can fix it when I get a chance**

**So let's keep going with a super long AN to unpack everything because you know we gotta do it, as always I will be going in the order in which events occur as per usual.**

**Starting off with number one! **

**Naruto and Satsuki and their moments (Both their mini-spar and their bridge moment)**

**So as I mentioned Wave was very much the chapter where we were really going to see the dynamic between the two fleshed out and expanded upon and I think over the course of this Arc you all got to see a lot of who Satsuki is and what makes her tick. **

**I know some people might moo a bit and be upset that she came right out with the fact that she acknowledges Naruto as more than her rival and that she didn't stubbornly hold onto that fact but keep in mind she is/was fully invested in the idea she was going to die at that moment.**

**If there is ever a time to stop being stubborn and admit how you feel, even just a small bit, it's on your deathbed and be fair it wasn't a confession of undying passion or anything so keep calm lol.**

**Now how is this going to play out when the two meet again... well that's for the next chapter isn't it~**

**Number two! **

**Haku... just Haku in general, oh my god...**

**Firstly yes I am aware I write 'he' during the battle even though Haku is a she. Its because they don't know so they default to he, I know someone would yell about it so I'm noting it here.**

**So being upfront without saying too much just yet, you all were very passionate about Haku and of the three options, number 1 received the LEAST amount of votes by a mile which actually surprised me a bit but hey it is what it is.**

**So without going too into it congrats, you all saved Haku from death.**

**Yes, I was going to kill her even with how I structured the interactions between them Haku would have died on that bridge regardless. However, you all threw that plan into a bin and lit said bin on fire so she lives!**

**Here have a cookie.**

**Now about which vote between 2 and 3 won... I'll talk about that down below when we get to the harem stuff.**

**So in regards to her character like I said I wanted to give Haku a more mature, teasing kind of character since she is a bit older and more experienced (worldly I mean) but I don't want people to mistake that for love at first sight or anything. She has an interest in Naruto but she isn't in love with him.**

**Not yet anyway. **

**"But what about the kiss!" I hear you type angry that I've fallen to the fanservice and the tropes. Hold your biddies.**

**Haku went into that encounter knowing that there were two possible outcomes. Either Team Seven loses (meaning Naruto dies) or Zabuza loses (they die), there was no happy ending there so she followed her own advice and took a chance, one small thing for herself and a memento/apology to him for whatever would happen on that bridge.**

**She didn't account for his stubbornness. **

**This doesn't mean they are going to hook up immediately by any means it was a character acting in a moment of stress and they'll have their time to build a more concrete relationship.**

**And yes, she was singing Blue Bird, I was listening to it while working to calm me down so there you go Haku sings lol**

**Next up, the fights (This one will be short).**

**Okay, this was probably my least favorite part of writing mainly because I'm very well aware I'm not good at writing fight scenes, I can only think of so many ways to say two people hit each other without running out ideas so I hope they turned out at least okay. **

**I can not wait until we get later in the series and I can justify people just throwing jutsu around lol. Damn you chakra capacity and just general realism.**

**I didn't focus on Kakashi and Zabuza's fight because we've already seen that and I wanted to focus on Naruto, Satsuki, and Haku's fight.**

**If you like them great, happy you did! If you didn't I totally understand and believe me I am right alongside you.**

**Moving on, Sakura's lack of presence in this chapter.**

**Easy, she'd actually die in like two minutes. Be aware I had Haku bumped in power a lot here seeing as Naruto and Satsuki are both pretty strong and she still tossed them around, Sakura will prove herself later after she's spent more time training but right now she just isn't where she needs to be.**

**Come Chunin exams though and we'll see.**

**Up next, Zabuza and the change of heart.**

**I know Zabuza's change was abrupt but in fairness, it was abrupt in the show as well so there wasn't much I could really do unless people wanted me to take the time to slowly chip away at Zabuza's persona for a whole chapter. I don't like to rush stuff but there is only so much that can be done.**

**Last up for story content is, where did the scene with Inari and the village showing up to drive off the thugs go.**

**Honestly, I just thought it was more fitting to have Zabuza kill them all, I'll still have Naruto's words have an impact on the village but I had more important stuff to cover. I will address it next chapter.**

**Now onto general stuff, this will cover things I want to say and some questions I've received.**

**1\. Didn't you say you were going to finish up Wave here? **

**That was the plan yes! However my plans had to change due to the fact that I will be away for a few days (out of state) due to a sudden death in my family and I wouldn't have finished in time and I just wanted to get this chapter out before I go.**

**So I'd guess the first half of the next chapter will be the last bit of wave and we'll move back to Konoha.**

**2\. Will we be jumping right into the Chunin Exams now that Wave is finished?**

**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**

**No.**

**For real though I want to have a bit of a cool down period to just do some fun side stuff for a chapter or two (similar to the team training chapters) while I get settled in and just take a break from the heavy story stuff. I know the story is long but at this point, I've just embraced it and hey you get to have more time with characters you like so win-win.**

**3\. With the romance options pretty much locked in when will we be seeing pay off to them and who will be the first official girl story wise?**

**I actually plan to start ramping that up a bit, not to super fan service levels to be clear, but just to get that ball rolling a bit faster, I'd say expect it to start up a lot during and after the Chunin exams (at least for some of the characters not all.)**

**As for who will be first, I'm tempted to leave that up to a vote just to see what happens but I'll hold off on that for now since obviously, we don't want spoilers. (Though by all means leave your thoughts lol)**

**4\. Have you come to a stance on lemons yet?**

**Still, haven't made a choice I know some people have approached my subtly (and not so subtly lol) endorsing it but I still haven't really come to an answer on that. I know many people read this for the character interactions and while yes a lemon technically is an interaction between characters I'm not so sure that falls into the same category.**

**It's still a while off before it would even show up in the story anyway so eh, there is plenty of time to think on it, if you are curious on how I write lemons (because I know there are some pretty bad ones around) you can check out my other story and make a judgment call.**

**Though do keep in mind that story is smut and any lemons here would be much tamer.**

**probably...**

**ANYWAY MOVING ON!**

**TIME FOR HAREM INFO STARTING OFF WITH THE RESULTS FOR HAKU!**

**So I read all your reviews and I do mean ALL of the reviews and I was genuinely surprised.**

**So I already spoke about how option number 1 was the least popular by far so there isn't really a need to cover it at all, it was mostly peoples back up choice if they couldn't get another option.**

**So it came down to options 2 and 3 and boy were you all pretty split.**

**Unlike with Ino where a majority of people pretty much had the same opinion which was "Keep Tayuya" a lot of you were actually willing to give her up this time.**

**A lot of you were also just like give Haku her own slot and while initially, this group was pretty much a landslide victory option 2 gained a ton of ground.**

**That left me with a choice, one that I am still making both sides have good points and since no matter what happens Haku will still be part of the harem regardless I think that taking a bit of time to make sure I pick the best option for the story is best.**

**Know I only do this because the two were pretty close and both affect the story in major ways.**

**So as it stands now this will, generally speaking, be the harem until I decide what to do with Tayuya:**

**Hinata**

**Shikari**

**Kira**

**Satsuki**

**Fem. Garra (name still pending)**

**Haku**

***Tayuya (Because option 2 is still on the table)**

**Thank you all so much for voting and sharing your love of these characters It means a lot and I hope to do them justice!**

* * *

**Small note and this doesn't apply to like 99% of you but to those few individuals who somehow think yelling at me will cause me to change the pairing options, it won't.**

**Keep in mind I'm saying people who screech at me and slag the story off because their favorite girl wasn't added, not people who are disappointed but are still respectful, I understand disagreement and by no means want people to think they can't state that disappointment.**

**So to clarify for the people who apparently haven't read why I imposed a limit on the girls:**

**I don't just throw a ton of women in because guess what? I am the one who actually has to sit down and make them worth reading about!**

**If the women in my stories were nothing more than eye candy for Naruto to put his leg over and I didn't care about making them important in any way then sure I'd put everyone in! Problem is they aren't just eye candy, they are people and people need to be written as actual complex characters, they have to interact with others not just including their love interests, they have to have wants, goals, dreams, fears, etc.**

**So no, I am not just going to remove the cap and put whoever people yell about in, either accept the list or go read a story that has the character you want if it's that important to you, but yelling at me isn't going to magically change anything.**

**For those who want to cite "Well you made an exception for Haku!" as an excuse, you ignore the fact that Haku had to pass a vote just like every other character in the harem barring one (Hinata) did. If your fav character isn't in the list then obviously they didn't get the votes needed to secure a spot!**

**Sorry about the small rant but it becomes annoying having people complain endlessly when many others including myself don't get to see characters they like. I would have loved to have Temari, Samui, Kin, Anko, Shizune, Yugito, etc be a part of it but don't feel the need to throw a fit because like most of you I understand that things can get out of hand if you don't impose some limits.**

**(This mainly guest reviews so I can't even try and be reasonable with them since I can't message them back to discuss)**

**Anyway super long AN over, I am very tired, somewhat stressed and need a rest on top of needing to prepare for my trip so not sure when I'll see you but hopefully, it isn't very long!**

**Hopefully hehe...**

**Take care, everyone!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but with that said I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**Hey! I'm back from my sudden trip and I want to start by saying a big thank you to the people who messaged me leaving well wishes for my family it was very much appreciated and I can't thank you all enough! **

**I also wish to preface the chapter with the fact that I had planned to put this out the day I came back but I had been unable to carry my laptop with me on my trip so no work got done sad to say but now that I'm home again I can keep writing! This chapter is a bit slower since we are of course in the aftermath of Wave so don't expect a ton to happen in here but I think I covered everything important.**

**With that said I hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

_Pain..._

Pain was nothing new in their profession, on the contrary, it was just a reality of life itself be it pain from training, loss, or just the pain brought about through conflict.

It's what makes joy so much sweeter, a loss so much harder, and most importantly it was a reminder that you were alive, for existence invited hardship.

So Naruto couldn't decide whether to be grateful that he felt like he'd been used as a walking pincushion or lament that he'd woken up from the sweet relief and comfort of darkness.

He decided to go half and half.

Groaning to himself he slowly forced his eyes open, immediately wincing as the morning sunlight peering in through a nearby window assaulted his still adjusting vision without mercy.

Pushing through the stinging pain in his eyes he grunted and pushed himself up, swallowing a shout of pain as his body protested against the sudden movement but swiftly being ignored as blue orbs scanned the plain wooden room of what he assumed was still Tazuna's home.

"So we really did it... we won..."

He exhaled and buried his face in his hands replaying his last memories before exhaustion had finally overtaken him... the slaughter of the bridge workers, their fight against Haku...

_His teammate's death..._

Frustration boiled in his veins as the bleeding visage of the Uchiha heiress haunted his thoughts, the taste of victory turning to ash in his mouth as the rest of the events swirled violently in his mind.

His own loss of control...

Haku's nearly successful sacrifice...

Zabuza's redemption and subsequent death...

Could any of that truly be called victory? Would every win be prefaced by needless deaths and anguish? Was that the true path of a shinobi?

His depressing thoughts were swiftly interrupted by the sound of the wooden door at the end of the room being opened, the soft thump of feet pattering against the wooden flooring alerting him to his new guest.

"Naruto! You're up?!"

Sakura immediately offered a radiant smile and quickly strode her way over to the whiskered boy's side her face set into a relieved expression as she looked over his bandaged form for any lingering injuries.

"We weren't sure when you were going to wake up but I guess we should have known you wouldn't be down for long."

He frowned, "How long was I out for? What happened?"

"About three days," Sakura replied, "And you'll have to speak to Kakashi-sensei to get the full picture" She frowned though it looked more like a pout, "I don't really know the full story and Sensei wanted to wait for you to wake up before he would answer my questions."

He nodded it made sense seeing as Kakashi probably had some questions about just what had gone on during his and Satsuki's battle with Haku.

Speaking of which...

"Sakura... about Satsuki..." He wasn't sure what to say, that he'd failed to protect the heiress? That she took an attack meant for him because he wasn't strong enough to get them out?

"Oh right!" She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled, "She's okay!"

He swore his heart skipped a beat.

"W-What?!"

Sakura nodded, "After the mist cleared we found her body..." Sakura shuddered a bit at the memory of the unnaturally still form of the Uchiha that had greeted them, "We thought... we thought we'd lost her but she was still hanging on when we got to her... if that hunter-nin had used anything else other then senbon..."

She didn't need to go on, the Uchiha heiress had lucked out by the skin of her teeth...

He felt relief surge through him the rest of Sakura's words fading into the background in the wake of the revelation.

She was _alive_.

"Is she awake?" He asked quietly cutting the pinkette off.

Sakura blinked in confusion but nodded, "She's in the guest room right now, she's still not in moving condition but she is conscious."

That's all he needed to know.

He pushed himself up ignoring Sakura's shouts to take it slow and rushed as best he could out of the room, his movements were slow and sluggish but it didn't deter him even as he crashed against the walls of the hallway that separated the small rooms of Tazuna's home.

Stumbling his way through the hall he quickly made his way towards the guest room his hands wrapping shakily around the golden knob of the door that offered little resistance against him even in his weakened state.

Pushing the worn wooden door open he stepped tentatively inside, his thoughts swirling in a violent vortex of both boundless relief and rising anxiousness as his feet carried him forward his eyes locking immediately to the weak looking but still very much alive figure laying propped up on the single bed within.

"Princess..."

He felt his vision blur with tears at the sight of the pale Uchiha staring back at him, her mouth set in her usual scowl but her dark onyx eyes brightened slightly at his arrival, a small spark of content in her own expression.

"Idiot..."

The two stared at one another for what felt like hours just taking a few moments to assure themselves what they were seeing was real, not a cruel dream that would vanish at the slightest disturbance...

He laughed heartily and barreled across the room running right to her side and uncaring of their boundaries wrapped the smaller girl into a tight embrace his face buried in the crook of her neck.

"You're okay!... you're okay..."

Satsuki let out a small squeak, that she would deny even under pain of death, at the sudden and abrupt contact her face swelling with what blood could be spared to dust her pale cheeks at the feeling of his arms tightening around her.

_Who did this idiot think he was hugging her?!_

She faintly noticed her collar go damp and his body shuddering lightly against her own, his chest heaving as he sobbed quietly against her and his relieved whispering, while muffled, still reached her ears and only added to her growing discomfort...

The memory of his anguished face had been one of her first memories upon waking, the only bit of clarity she'd had before darkness had briefly taken her days ago...

She felt her embarrassment drain slightly at the mental image...

She would admit she wasn't the most open person in the world or the easiest to get along with... she wasn't friendly by any means, she had a temper, and she knew about as much about people as she did jutsu theory.

Safe to say she didn't have many, or more like any if she was honest, positive relationships with anyone and that suited her just fine.

But it felt...nice... knowing that someone would miss her...

Even if it was him... she didn't mind all that much, he wasn't _that _bad she begrudgingly admitted.

She scoffed to herself at her mushy thoughts but hadn't noticed that while wrapped up in her thoughts she'd unconsciously snaked her own arms around him in return.

And neither noticed Sakura peeking through the doorframe at their little moment with a small smile before quietly backing off, the door shutting it behind her with a soft click that went unheard by either of them.

The two stayed this way for a few moments longer before they seemed to realize what kind of position they were in and quickly broke apart each stuttering out apologies, Naruto rubbing his eyes sheepishly and Satsuki trying desperately to bring the heat in her face under control.

"You two seem to be having fun."

The two jumped slightly at the sound of Kakashi's amused voice breaking the awkward silence that had befallen them, the silver-haired jounin stood casually behind them looking no worse for wear though it was hard to tell with his covered appearance.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" He asked cheerfully easily masking his laughter at their embarrassed expressions and frantic attempts to wave off any misunderstandings.

_They were so cute._

"Maa, I'm only playing." He offered them an eye smile, "But it is good to see you two so lively again, however..." His expression turned serious letting them know that it was time to focus up, "I need to speak with Naruto for a bit regarding the events on the bridge."

He turned to the blond in question and nodded his head, "I'll be waiting outside when you're done catching up." He offered the two another quick eye smile and made his way out.

The duo watched their masked leader make a quiet exit before turning back to one another, the awkward aura that had surrounded them prior to Kakashi's interruption returning as the two struggled to find the proper words to say.

Unsurprisingly, Naruto chose to speak first his expression morose as he finally took stock of the state the heiress was in with bandages running down her arms and likely underneath her usual clothing, "I'm sorry..."

His words came out more like a whisper than the declaration he'd intended but he could see she'd heard him nonetheless.

"If I had been stronger I could have prevented this, if I had just been faster, or come up with a better plan then you... you wouldn't have..." He clenched his fist as feelings of inadequacy washed over him.

Why was it no matter how hard he trained he still seemed to fail when it mattered...

Satsuki looked at him for a few moments before she scoffed gaining his attention.

"I didn't take you for a narcist, idiot" She sneered, "If you forgot we _both _went into that fight and we lost together... we brought out our best and our best just wasn't enough simple as that."

He frowned, "But you nearly died because you had to save me..."

"I didn't have to do anything," She glared at him pushing herself up ignoring the pain in her body to look right at him, "I made the choice to save you!"

"Why thought?..." He backed down in the face of her anger his posture slumping slightly, "You had everything to lose so why?..."

She went silent for a while as she considered his question, she'd asked herself that as well since she was lucid enough to think again...

He wasn't wrong, from day one she'd made it clear that all she cared about was attaining the power needed to avenge her family and yet she'd nearly thrown her life away on the behalf of another...

"I... I don't really know..." She fell back against the bed and stared at the ceiling, "I don't regret my choice though." She turned to look at him, "If our roles had been reversed... you would have done the same for me, wouldn't you?"

"Gladly." He nodded without hesitation.

"Tsk, then you have no right to question my motives." She huffed folding her arms and looking anywhere but at him.

He couldn't help but smile softly at her subtle admission that she cared for him in her own way, he doubted she'd ever say it out loud again but deep down they both knew.

"You're just a big softy aren't you Princess~" He chuckled immediately shattering their moment with his amused expression and causing the Uchiha heiress to scowl furiously the flush returning to her face with a vengeance.

"Shut the hell up!"

"Wanna hug it out again~"

"Touch me and I will beat you with your own arms!"

"You're so mean~"

"Get out of my room!"

_Some things would never change..._

* * *

Kakashi hummed a soft tune as his blond charge stepped out into the front yard of Tazuna's home, a content smile on his face as he jogged over to him.

"I take it all the yelling was your doing?" He asked the whiskered youth earning a small chuckle from the blond but he said nothing merely taking the time to enjoy the fresh air.

"A nonanswer is still an answer you know." He laughed quietly but joined his student in a moment of silence just taking the time to appreciate the beauty of nature.

He couldn't avoid the topic forever though and he spoke up again, "During the battle, I felt _its _chakra coming off you." He noticed the blond flinch at his emphasis assuring him that the boy knew exactly what he was talking about.

"I'm not the villagers Naruto, I only want to be sure that you are okay." He placed a reassuring hand on the blond shoulder squeezing it gently to convey his intentions.

Naruto sat still but nodded slightly, "I'm okay... truthfully sensei I can barely remember it..." He frowned, "The pieces are there but they don't quite fit if you understand what I mean."

Kakashi nodded along, "But, were you still in control?"

"I think so... it was kinda like I was watching my body from the outside some things were really clear and others kinda foggy but I could still decide my actions..." His voice fell hushed at the memory of such overwhelming rage.

"I was trying to kill her sensei... I wanted to so badly..."

He liked to fight that much he knew, there was something about testing himself against others that just appealed to him but he'd never aimed to take someone's life.

But at that moment something inside of him had wanted Haku smeared into the earth like an insect, to paint the earth red with her blood and it scared him.

"Yet you didn't." Kakashi spoke softly, "You showed mercy even under its influence."

"Because I knew her... if I had taken that mask off and it had been anyone else..." He shivered at his thoughts, "I-I don't know if I would have stopped, Sensei."

The masked-nin paused trying to find the right words to offer his student some measure of comfort, "I can't give you the answer to that question, but I can say that I know if you did you would have regretted it." He ruffled the blond's hair, "To kill without feeling marks the beginnings of a monster, to understand the value of life and to regret those you cut down proves that you're still human." He smiled.

"For what it's worth I don't think you are a monster, Naruto."

Naruto was silent for a moment but eventually, he smiled too, "Thank you, Sensei."

"It's a teachers job to believe in their students, you three made me proud." They were far from perfect but they'd become important to him in their own way.

"Hehe, just you watch us we're going to become the best." Naruto grinned

He chuckled, "I'll be waiting for that day."

His thoughts turned to the other topic he wanted to discuss with the blond, specifically their newest addition.

"I have something else to talk about with you..." He started before the blond cut him off likely having guessed this would come up.

"It's about Haku, isn't it? I promise Sensei she can be trusted!" He was quick to defend the girl, she wasn't a bad person she was just following orders.

"I'm not making any judgments on her character." He ran a hand through his silver hair, "However, she is not in a state where I can afford to leave her unguarded with the rest of you."

Naruto frowned, "Where is she now then?" He was technically responsible for her and he'd given his word to Zabuza that he'd take care of the older girl.

He planned to keep that promise no matter what.

Kakashi stood and began walking beckoning him to follow, "I'll show you."

* * *

The two had walked through the forest before coming upon a hill that overlooked the ocean surrounding the island and at its edge sat a makeshift grave, facing outwards towards the horizon.

Behind it, the legendary Kubikiribōchō rested stabbed into the soft earth below, the only true marker of the grave's occupant. Sitting before them both was Haku who sat on her knees staring quietly at the grave before her either unaware or uncaring of their presence.

"She's been there since the body was buried." Kakashi spoke looking upon the grieving child, "She hasn't said a word to anyone since she heard of Zabuza's death..."

Naruto felt his heart clench tightly in his chest, it didn't take a genius to imagine how the girl must have been feeling and even then he doubted there were many that could claim to have even the slightest understanding of just what Zabuza's death meant to her.

A death that they were partly responsible for...

"I figured it would be best to let you try and speak with her given your apparent history and Zabuza's faith in you." He patted the boy on the shoulder once more and shuffled off to the side allowing them some measure of privacy.

Naruto nodded and slowly made his way over to the grave, stopping just beside Haku who made no move to acknowledge his presence her gaze held firmly on the simple grave before her.

It was nothing fancy, a simple wooden cross stuck into the ground it held no name, no fancy plate, or final words just a bare-bones grave...

"He deserved better..." He spoke softly adopting the same kneeling position as Haku, his hands resting in his lap paying his own respect to the mercenary turned hero.

She said nothing merely staring ahead as she had been...

"His final thoughts were of you ya know... he wanted you to know he was sorry he couldn't be the person you saw him as... that he was proud of who you'd become and the light you'd brought to his life..."

By his side, Haku began to tremble her hands balling into tight fists in her lap...

"He had only one regret before he went... he regretted that he'd never got the chance to tell you all this himself..."

She felt the tears she'd desperately been holding back begin to fall, her chest heaving as her sobs broke through the dam she'd tried so hard to build and she wailed.

A wail that pierced the soul of those that heard it, that held nothing but pain and the anguish of a loss so deep that it rattled the bones...

He wrapped an arm around her as she screamed her grief out towards the ocean his own eyes filling with tears at her suffering, her eyes were bloodshot and harsh and her voice cracked and croaked as she yelled into the heavens at the unfairness of it all.

How much more did she have to lose?!

They stayed like that for an hour, her voice had long since given out leaving only gasping wheezes while he gently rubbed her back offering what little comfort he could.

Life really could be so cruel.

"I failed him..." Her voice came out as a hoarse whisper that he'd almost missed her words, "He gave me purpose and I failed him... I wasn't there to protect him."

He frowned and held her tighter, "Haku... you were nearly dead... you would have died if you pushed yourself further."

"Then I should have died!" She ripped herself from his arms and stared at him with fury and hurt, "If my life could have saved his then I would have given it gladly!"

"Haku plea-"

"I have nothing now!" She seemed to stare off into the distance, "I have nothing now..." She collapsed like a puppet with her strings cut, "I can't do that again..." She sobbed burying her face into her hands.

He'd never had to deal with a loss like this, sure he'd lost his parents but he had never met them and as much as that hurt it was also the only silver lining to his orphan status.

You can't miss what you never had and couldn't remember.

But for those that lost and had to bear the burden of living on...he felt as though he'd gained the smallest of understandings of just what that pain was.

"You know he never said it..." Haku paused to hear his words, to hear Zabuza's words, "But I saw it before he went... you were more than a tool to him... he loved you like you were his own and he believed that you would find your place without him."

She frowned and turned to stare at the blade that was once wielded by the man that meant everything to her, "My place was by his side... without him... I am _worthless _once again."

She laughed but it was a bitter, mocking sort of laughter, "Naruto... if I asked you to kill me right now... would you grant me my wish?"

He shook his head, "I wouldn't."

She stared at him with frigid eyes, "And what if I make you?"

He stared back at her for a moment before he reached down and brought out a single kunai from his holster grabbing Haku's attention who smiled and closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable...

_For peace._

Instead, she felt her hand being wrapped tightly around the handle and her hand being raised before coming to rest, forcing her to open her eyes.

In her hand she now held the kunai he'd pulled out and the blade rested unhindered near the boy's neck, his own eyes boring into her own.

"I promised Zabuza I would take care of you..." His words were soft but firm, "I can't kill you because I gave him my word but more importantly because you are precious to me as well." He smiled kindly at her even as she held his life in her hands.

Her grip grew weak and her hands began to shake as he spoke.

"I can't bring him back to you... but I bear the responsibility for your pain, I was the one who stopped you. As such..." He leaned into the blade allowing it to rest against his skin, "I will not resist if you wish to harm me."

She searched his eyes but found nothing but honesty and regret in his expression...

_He really would allow her to kill him..._

She dropped the knife, the steel blade falling uselessly to the ground between them.

"You do not play fair Naruto-kun..." She sighed but smiled gently for the first time in what felt like years, "Maybe I was wrong about you being a terrible shinobi."

He grinned softly back at her, "I'd like to think I'm just a little unorthodox."

She chuckled softly, "That is one way to put it." She turned to stare back at the grave with somber eyes, "I think he would have liked you in time... had the circumstances been different."

She went silent before speaking again, "Naruto-kun... if it is not too much trouble... may I make one selfish request of you?"

He nodded, "Of course."

"Would you allow me to serve you?..."

He blinked having been caught off guard by the request, "Umm I'm sorry Haku could you repeat that?"

She turned to face him, no sign of the usual mischief that accompanied her teasing or jokes but rather a stern determination and slight vulnerability was present in her expression.

"Without Zabuza-sama there is nothing in this world for me, no friends, and no family... Zabuza-sama felt he could entrust my care to you and I find the idea of serving you preferable to wandering without purpose." She took his hand in hers and he could practically feel the anxiousness building within her.

"So if I may, please allow me to remain with you." She pleaded softly.

"Haku..." He wasn't sure how to respond to this, he was happy to have her with him he also wanted her to be her own person too, "You are more than welcome to come back with us but you aren't a servant, you are free."

"I have tasted freedom and I do not care for it anymore." She had all the freedom she could have needed when she wandered the streets and it had done little for her other than send her spiraling into despair.

Her sole desire in life was to be needed... to know that her existence was not meaningless

"I'm not sure about this..."

She squeezed his hand gently, "Please... it is all I ask."

He saw the desperation in her eyes and he knew that the wrong answer might push her over the edge, but was it right for him to accept essential ownership of another person?

_Even if that was what they wanted?_

He sighed and nodded reluctantly, "If that is what you truly want... then you may serve me." He couldn't help the slight upward quirk of his lips when the light returned ever so slightly in her gaze.

She gave a demure smile and bowed her head low "Thank you."

He held up one hand, "However you have to promise me one thing in return."

"Anything." Her response was immediate.

"You have to promise me that even if you serve me you'll never stop searching for your own purpose, and that should you find it that you will pursue it." His gaze bored into her, "These are my terms."

He would help keep her upright until she could stand for herself and find her place in the world but until then he would grant her this kindness.

Haku frowned but had no choice the alternative was a fate worse than death as far as she was concerned.

"Very well... I accept."

He smirked and held up his free hand, extending his pinkie out towards her, "You gotta make it official." His face contorting into his infamous vulpine grin as he wiggled the tiny digit.

She couldn't help but giggle at the childish gesture but she didn't rebuke him instead she linked her own pinkie with his, locking the two together.

"I look forward to serving you from now on... Naruto-sama~" She laughed when the grin on the boys face sputtered out at the title.

"Don't you dare Haku-chan!"

"Whatever do you mean Naruto-sama?~"

"Stop that!"

From behind the trees Kakashi watched his student with a mixture of amusement and pride.

"You'd be proud of him Sensei, Nee-chan..."

* * *

"I apologize if my actions caused you any harm and I do hope in time you'll come to forgive me." Haku bowed as she addresses the two youth sitting before her.

Well, the pink one was sitting staring at her with a mixture of confusion, hesitation, and anxiety. The other one was glaring at her from the confines of the tiny bed she'd been forced into.

Sakura tilted her head as she tried to digest what she'd just been told, "So you were working for Zabuza but now you're with us?"

The whole thing just seemed so surreal at this point she had thought her sensei had grabbed the girl as a prisoner or something not an ally.

Haku nodded, "Yes, once you are ready to return I shall be joining you back to Konoha where hopefully I will be allowed to reside from then on."

Satsuki made no comments but held her glare firmly on the gentle face of the woman that had nearly killed her, her teammate, and was the primary reason she'd been stuck in bed for nearly four days.

Instead, she turned to Kakashi who was watching the interaction from behind his little orange book, "How do we know we can trust her? She has every reason to pick us off in our sleep and avenge Zabuza."

She didn't like the idea of living in the same room as an enemy, even less so when that enemy had proven more than capable of taking them all down with relative ease.

Haku frowned at the mention of her former master but held herself back from starting a fight, that would only make the process more difficult.

"I understand your concerns, however," She fell into step beside the blond whom she had just pledged her allegiance, "I now serve Naruto-sama and as such would bring no harm to those he holds dear."

Sakura and Satsuki both had to take a pause at the new piece of information, their faces contorting into sheer disbelief and bewilderment.

Since when has anyone ever called him Naruto-sama?!

Satsuki growled and turned on the sheepish boy who was trying his best to look anywhere but at his two teammates and slowly inching his way towards the room's exit.

"Moron explain, _now_!"

He flinched and cursed his luck shooting an unamused glare at Haku who merely smiled and rocked herself on the balls of her feet as though she had no clue what she'd just done.

_He'd get her back for this!_

"Look, I know how it seems but she's not a threat and Kakashi-sensei is okay with it!" He argued.

The Uchiha heiress seemed unconvinced, "And she's calling you Naruto-_sama_ because..." The raven haired girl ground out the words as though she was trying to chew through gravel.

"...Would you believe that she's just really respectful?"

The look on her face told him that excuse was not going to fly at the moment.

Haku for her part found the whole process rather amusing if she was honest, she wasn't fully sure what the raven-haired girl's relationship was with the blond, but through their bickering, she could tell the two were much closer than appearances would suggest.

Seeing at the Uchiha had been willing to take a hit for the blond perhaps there was something deeper going on there.

However, that didn't mean she would allow herself to be separated from him at her whim.

"Excuse me Uchiha-san," She spoke softly her generally serene expression causing the bickering duo to pause and face her as she sauntered up to her master's side almost immediately setting said blond on edge.

Why did he suddenly feel like he was in mortal danger?

Haku's smile if anything widened but with her gentle features she had an almost apologetic appearance which of course only made her next words all the more damning.

"Forgive me if this seems rather blunt but..."She covered her mouth with her sleeve to hide a grin

"Are you perhaps... _interested _in Naruto-sama?"

...

Sakura nearly choked on her spit at the sudden question her fist thumping rapidly against her chest at the utter gall of the older girl!

Naruto for his part had adopted the look of a grizzled war veteran staring far off into the distance as though he had accepted his fate and was now merely waiting for his inevitable end...

Kakashi who had up to this point been a silent observer giggled into the pages of his little book his mask muffling his laughter, he was more than content to watch the drama unfold from the safety of the room's corner.

As for Satsuki...

Well reacted about as well as anyone who'd ever met her would assume.

Very poorly.

"W-WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?!" She sputtered her face going red in a mixture of shock, rage, and embarrassment, "OF COURSE I'M NOT!"

Haku tilted her head adopting a faux confused expression, "Oh? I assumed your anger was more territorial in nature but if that's not the case~"

Haku wrapped her arms around the blond's arm placing it right between her chest, "Then I'd argue it's none of your business what goes on between me and Naruto-sama now is it?~"

Naruto wasn't sure he could get any paler by this point.

"I-I'm his teammate! Of course it's my business!"

Haku grinned and rested her cheek against the blondes but never took her eyes off the Uchiha trying to glare holes into her face, "Then your input is not required since your commanding officer has given his consent."

"Unless of course, you have some _other _reason you'd like to share?"

Satsuki glared heatedly at the smug expression her tormenter sported, she was very much aware that no other argument she could make could override Kakashi's say so.

The more she fought the more she would be playing right into that stupid assertion, the idea that she cared about whatever that idiot did was downright stupid!

She couldn't care less who he hung out with!

_...Right?_

Haku smiled victoriously when the Uchiha closed her mouth biting down any retort instead settling for glaring daggers at the ice wielder that screamed: "Watch your back!"

"I'm glad we could move past this." She bowed low towards the two not at all missing the enraged look the Uchiha heiress was sporting, the nervous glances the pinkette was sending the two of them or the fact that the boy she was currently holding was near comatose in her arms.

The future would be entertaining if nothing else~

* * *

Despite some initial tension things had more or less settled down after a few more days much to the quiet relief of everyone involved.

Without Gato the villagers were once more out and about in full force, having taken it upon themselves to drive out what few dens of thugs remained from the dead tycoon's reign. With no pay incoming and greatly outnumbered it didn't take long to remove what little remained of once marauding invaders.

Also since they were no longer hindered by fear almost the entire village had come to lend their support in finishing up the bridge which would be complete within the next few days by Tazuna's estimates and in turn would mark the end of their mission.

It was nice knowing they'd be going home soon but it was also a bit sad leaving all the kind faces they'd met during their time here...

Which is why he'd decided to take one last trip through town before they had to head out, he really wanted to remember the site of his first real mission.

He also was looking for someone.

"Naruto-sama, do you believe we'll find her?"

Haku had, of course, insisted on accompanying him despite his insistence that she stay put and rest but she had quickly proven that she could be his equal in stubbornness when she wanted to be and so for the sake of actually leaving the house he had given in and allowed her to come with him.

He had a suspicious feeling this was going to become a pattern with her.

"I do, I promised I'd see her again before we left and you know I don't go back on my promises." He grinned happily as they wandered from street to street in search of their target.

She giggled, "That is true, perhaps you should have become a samurai instead?"

"You're the second person to tell me that but I'll stick with being a ninja thank you very much." He stuck his tongue out at her, "Besides if I prefer the image of a dashing rouge anyway."

"I don't know if 'dashing' is the word I'd use for you, Naruto-sama." She laughed at his petulant expression and depressed muttering of "emotional abuse" and "low self-esteem"

_He was such a child._

"Nii-san! I found you!" A cheerful childish voice called out breaking both of them out of their little moment.

Neither of them had time to react before the blond felt himself being thrown to the floor by a small figure that clung tightly to his chest, joyous squeals and laughter echoing from the small bundle nuzzling against him.

Once the stars left his vision and the sound of Haku's laughter reached his ears he looked down and smiled at the excited form of Mio bouncing happily above him.

"When did you get so strong Mio-chan?!" He laughed pulling the excitable girl off of him before scooping her into his arms and setting her upon his shoulders just like he had during their first meeting.

The little girl smiled and held onto his blond locks for balance, "Hehe, I've been training so I can be just as strong as you Naruto-nii!" She flexed one arm and puffed out her cheeks, "That way I can beat up any bad guys that might show up!"

He laughed and patted her on the leg, "Keep it up then, one day I'm sure you'll be the strongest woman in Wave." He praised earning a small blush from the girl who nodded.

Mio then turned to Haku who was watching silently with a gentle smile while the two caught up.

"Ano... who are you Miss? Are you Nii-san's friend?" She tilted her head in a manner that reminded Haku of a small puppy.

The girl was too cute!

She nodded and bowed slightly towards the little girl, "Yes, you could say that I'm a close friend of your Nii-san"

Mio smiled and did her own half bow though she had to be careful not to fall, "Okay! Nice to meet you!" She offered her a toothy grin before looking down to face her self proclaimed big brother.

"Why are you in town today Naruto-nii? Are you looking for something?" She asked.

He nodded, "I was looking for you, I promised I'd see you again before I had to leave remember."

Mio's eyes widened and immediately her smile turned into a sad frown, "So, you're leaving?... Already?" The young girl's voice caught slightly in her throat while tears gathered in the corner of her eyes prompting him to pull her down and into a gentle hug.

"I have to go back in a few days but I promise I'll write to you when I can and tell you about all the places I see and maybe one day I'll come back when I have time and we can spend all day together." He softly reassured the girl this wasn't that last time they'd speak.

Mio hiccuped and wiped her tears, "You promise?"

He smiled and took her hand hooking his little finger with his own, "I pinkie promise!"

Mio giggled and squeezed their fingers together, "Okay, but you better keep it!" She then blinked and wiggled out of his grip, "Oh! If you are going to leave soon then you have to meet mommy first!" She grabbed his hand and quickly began leading the duo through the busy streets to her home.

He didn't resist her pulling and soon enough after a few turns and shortcuts the three found themselves in front of a cozy looking shop with jewelry displayed prominently through the glass windows.

They didn't have much time to take it in before they'd found themselves being pushed through the door by an excitable Mio.

"Mom I'm back!"

"I can see that dear and I also see that you've brought guests instead of the groceries I sent you for." An amused feminine voice spoke out from behind the counter drawing a sheepish laugh from the girl who quietly tapped the floor with her foot."

"Sorry, mommy... but look I found Nii-san! He was looking for me but I found him first and tackled him hehe~" Mio grinned and ran around the counter to hug her mother's legs who could only sigh and gently patted her daughter's head with a soft smile.

"You are such a handful you know that? Now I'd like to speak with you 'Nii-san' for a bit so can you please go get the groceries this time." She wagged her finger at the child who pouted but nodded and ran back out from behind the counter to the door.

"Nii-san I'll be right back! If you leave before I come back I won't forgive you!" She gave her best glare which unfortunately only made her look cuter with her puffed up cheeks before she raced back out into the streets to hopefully complete her task this time.

"Sorry about her she's just been so excited now that she can go back to running around safely." The older woman made her way out from behind the counter and into the light.

Immediately he could see the resemblance between Mio and her mother both possessing the same dark brown hair and rounded eyes, along with similar smiles although her mother possessed a more mature and reserved smile then her daughters bright and slightly mischievous expressions.

Still, there was no doubt the two were related.

He smiled and shook his head, "Its perfectly fine it's good to see her so happy."

She smiled back and nodded, "Forgive me I should have introduced myself sooner, I am Mirai Suzuki, Mio's mother."

He bowed, "It is nice to meet you Suzuki-san your daughter told me a lot about you." He grinned, "I can tell she loves you a lot."

Mirai laughed and bowed in return, "Believe me it's my pleasure to meet you Naruto-san." She giggled at the bewildered look on his face, "If you are wondering how I know your name, Mio likes to tell stories of her 'Nii-san' especially with Gato gone, it wouldn't be a stretch to say you are her biggest hero."

He couldn't help but blush at that, he hadn't really done all that much, "W-Well it was a team effort I can't take all the credit for that." He tried to dismiss his own role not comfortable with taking full credit for something his team and Zabuza had helped with.

Miria shook her head and to his surprise stepped forward and pulled him into a tight hug, "Maybe so but it was _you _who saved my daughter and for that, you are my hero as well, Naruto-san."

Not quite used to being praised he floundered slightly and looked to his companion for assistance who was conveniently looking around at the pieces of jewelry strewn about, leaving him on his own.

_Traitor!_

Eventually, Mirai released him and ruffled his hair slightly laughing merrily as he fussed under her touch but made no real move to evade or push her away.

"Anyway I'm grateful I had the chance to thank you and if there is anything I can ever do to repay you please don't hesitate to ask." She said making her way back around the counter.

He waved her off, "There is no need for that as long as Mio is safe and happy that is more than enough for me."

She smiled and nodded, "Thank you..."

He grinned and decided to join Haku in browsing while he waited for Mio to return.

"See anything you like Haku-chan?" He asked his own eyes glancing over the ornate handcrafted jewelry that seemed to made from a mix of vibrant sea stones and jewels.

Haku shook her head, "I have never had much interest in jewelry but the craftsmanship caught my attention, whoever made these clearly put a lot of time into them." There were a large assortment of items from rings, bracelets, necklaces, and everything in between

Miria who had been listening in on the wandering duo grinned, "Well I'm happy you think so, always nice to have my work recognized."

The two looked up from the display case, "You make these?" He asked.

"Well, I do buy the materials of course but cutting the rocks and fitting the jewels are all my work." She puffed up her chest in pride, "I'd dare say my stuff is the best you'll find in all of Wave!"

He turned and looked over the pieces on offer and he really had to admit some of them were stunning...

"How much are they?" He questioned eyeing a few specific items.

Mirai looked a bit surprised he'd shown any interest but was more than happy to oblige him, "Show me what'd you like and we'll see what we can arrange."

He swiftly pointed out the few items that had caught his attention and Mirai rung them up handing him a few carefully wrapped boxes.

"How much do I owe you?" He asked pulling out his wallet that he'd thankfully had the presence of mind to bring with him before he'd left.

Mirai looked at him for a moment and waved her hand, "It's on the house, consider it my thanks."

He frowned and tried to argue, "I can't accept th-"

She cut him off with a stern look, one only a mother could really pull off that quickly cowed him into submission, "What I think you were about to say is, 'Thank you, Suzuki-san.'"

Her stare intensified, "Wasn't it?"

He nodded rapidly and quickly offered her many thanks and putting his wallet away causing the older woman to relax returning to her sunny disposition as if nothing had happened...

_Women were scary!_

Behind him, Haku was trying to cover her own laughter behind her sleeve and making a mental note to learn the look for future use.

_He wouldn't stand a chance..._

* * *

Mio did eventually return and the group spent the rest of the afternoon swapping stories and sharing laughs before eventually he and Haku had to return with a tearful goodbye and many more promises to come back and visit.

As expected the bridge was completed within a few more days and by the dawn of the following morning Team Seven and their plus one were standing at the end of the newly completed bridge.

"I wish I could say it'll be nice to have you brats gone but... we're gonna miss you." Tazuna smiled as he gave each member a firm but friendly farewell handshake.

Naruto grinned, "I guess in the end you weren't so bad for an old drunk... not gonna miss your smell though~" He added cheekily getting a round of laughs from the crowd that had assembled to see them off and dark mutterings from the man in question.

"Tsk... cheeky punk..."

Tsunami smiled and gave each member a short hug, "We can't thank you enough for what you've done us, you're always welcome to come and stay with us again if you find yourselves in the area."

Kakashi and Sakura smiled while Satuski grunted but offered a small smirk to show her own gratitude.

By her side, Inari frowned a bit at the assembled shinobi, "Do...do you really have to go?..."

Seeing Wave free had shifted his perspective and had pushed him to be better having joined the village in seeing off the bandits from their dens. He felt like Kaiza would have been proud of him.

To see the people who made that change go was saddening for him.

Naruto grinned and placed a hand on the boys head tussling his hair through his hat, "We'll come back and visit someday but until then we're counting on you to protect Wave and make it better than ever, can we count on you?"

Inari smiled and nodded even though his tears, "I will I promise!"

He smiled back, "I can't wait to see it!"

Their moment was promptly interrupted when the blond was knocked over by a crying Mio

"Naruto-niiiiiii!"

"Ugh... nice to see you too Mio..." He groaned patting the crying girl on her head to calm her down.

Mirai sighed and picked up the sobbing girl offering an apologetic look to the blond who shook it off and laughed.

"I'm glad you could make it, Mio-chan." He pulled the girl and her mother into a gentle hug taking care not to squish the small child, not that it mattered much with her clinging onto him with all she had.

"Y-You better r-remember your promise!" She huffed through her tears.

He crossed his heart, "I will don't worry and I promise to write to you whenever I can."

She nodded and let go of his jacket reluctantly.

Mirai grinned and patted him on the shoulder, "Take care, Naruto-san."

He nodded and waved the crowd behind them who all waved back as he took his place back with his team.

Kakashi offered an eye smile at his students, "Are we all set?"

"Yes, Sensei/Sir"

"Alright then let's move out."

And with that, the group began the trek back to Konoha their first real mission now behind them.

Naruto frowned and turned to his new companion, "Haku did you grab whatever you needed to?"

Haku smiled softly and patted a small scroll attached to her hip, "Yes... it didn't take long to pick up."

Back on the hill overlooking the Waves, a single grave sat proudly...

Unmarked and left to time.

* * *

**AN. Chapter complete!**

**And no I didn't forget they named the bridge after him, Naruto will find out later before you all start yelling at me!**

**So anyway, my plans for this chapter were tanked I had originally planned to only have the first half of the chapter in Wave than the second half back in Konoha but I also wanted to wrap everything up which ended up taking a lot longer than I expected. I also know this chapter didn't have a ton going on but do keep in mind it is the aftermath of the battle so it wasn't going to be this big moment that launched into more action.**

**Now as we do time to address questions and explain stuff!**

**Starting off with some concerns about the last chapter:**

**Why didn't I have Naruto kill the bandits?:**

**I wasn't really expecting this to be a concern and granted only a few people were wondering about it but I still think it's good to address the point now. Naruto didn't kill the bandits because for one I wanted Zabuza to really have his redemption arc that would solidify his place in the minds of the characters and two I just didn't want Naruto to have that moment right now. **

**There is already so much going on that I want to have that moment of questioning happen at a better time story-wise, I will say that Naruto will kill in this story but it's not going to be something he does frequently when he doesn't have to. Sorry if that disappoints some of you but it would be out of character for the way I wrote him to have him mowing down people like nothing.**

**The second concern was just about how Satsuki survived the hit:**

**Now to be honest with this one, it's really just because she/he did so in the show I can't really give a confirmed rational, I try to justify in that Haku was not using a weapon designed to kill and would fight in a way that would make it hard for her to accidentally kill someone so Satuski taking the hits hurt her but it wasn't enough to kill her.**

**Really just take it or leave it, you knew she was going to survive by virtue of being in the harem so I'm not going to fixate on that point too much.**

**Now onto the stuff for this chapter!**

**Naruto's reaction and first meeting with Satsuki after the battle:**

**Some people might think I made him overly emotional at this moment but I thought of it as he has never lost anyone in his life up to this point (that he can remember and really feel for since he doesn't know his parents) so thinking he lost both a teammate and a friend hit him hard.**

**Especially seeing that he maintains some guilt about her almost dying on his behalf.**

**Finding out they were alive in my mind would overwrite any petty boundaries in the wake of discovering that said person is still alive, it's a pretty emotional thing and he got caught up.**

**Satsuki's response?:**

**Like I said I wanted the Wave Arc to really flesh their relationship out and build on their future relations given that Wave is one of the few occasions where their relationship can be worked on relatively uninterrupted by the other characters so I wanted to get the most out of it before we got back to everyone else.**

**I also noted I wrote her in more of a Tsun kinda way and characters like that tend to take longer to recognize their feelings so if I didn't plan the seeds now it would take much, much longer.**

**Right now she's questioning her own actions and feelings so there is still time before she's even ready to admit any sort of romantic feelings to herself let alone Naruto. She's not dense but she is stubborn.**

**Does she know she's awakened her sharingan:**

**She does that will be touched upon later!**

**Next up, Haku and pretty much all her stuff (she has a lot of time here so best to cover it all):**

**So up front, I rewrote a lot of Haku's dialogue and situations a few times trying to decide just what I wanted with her in the wake of Zabuza's death.**

**This is partly due to the fact that I had just returned from my trip regarding a sudden death in my own family and the point was very poignant to me afterward and naturally bled into my writing.**

**The moment on the hill was me trying to capture her grief but also the start of a new chapter for her.**

**I know some people might complain that she's now 'serving' Naruto but keep in mind Haku has spent most of her life working to serve someone else. That isn't just magically going to change overnight and so she shifted to the closest positive relationship she had to help her cope which just so happens to be our boy.**

**I also know some people might think she 'got over' Zabuza's death really fast based on how she acts later in the chapter but she's not even remotely over it everyone copes in their own way and she is still very much trying to adjust. We'll see that come through later.**

**Next up her relationship with Satsuki:**

**I got a ton of messages/reviews about having the two of them become rivals and based on how I've written their characters I can actually understand why people would want that so I decided to go with popular demand.**

**The two will have a rivalry similar to Hinata and Kira though Haku will act more so in a way that pushes Satsuki forward more romantically since Haku doesn't really need any help in that regard. Keep in mind neither are yet 'in love' with him but they'll get there with time and this will help.**

**Lastly, the very obvious hint that Haku now has Zabuza's sword:**

**It's fitting for her to take it given her relationship with its previous owner but she will not be using it for a bit for reasons that will be touched upon in the future.**

**I didn't give it to Naruto because it doesn't fit the way I plan to have him fight and generally when he picks the blade up its because he chooses to emulate the late swordsmen which he won't be doing in this story so sorry to people that wanted that.**

**This is not to say Naruto won't ever get a weapon but it won't be this one.**

**Okay, moving onto minor stuff:**

**Mio showed up again along with Mirai, is this a sign they'll appear more?:**

**Nope, there are no plans for either character to play a big role or really even a minor one, OC characters that I make tend to be to build up the world or create paths for certain choices that I want to make so we probably won't see them again at least not in any significant way other than maybe having them visit during the Chunin exams or something.**

**What are the gifts and who did he buy them for?:**

**You'll see, be patient! **

**(He says knowing damn well he takes forever to update hehe...sorry...)**

**Okay last up HAREM INFO!:**

**The harem info is kinda moot at this point given you all pretty much know the final pairings but if you don't here they are again:**

**Hinata**

**Kira**

**Shikari**

**Satsuki**

**Fem. Garra (Name to be revealed later)**

**Haku**

***Tayuya (I'm still deciding on which choice I'm going for so her place is not 100% confirmed at present)**

**I have gotten a small surge of people asking for Sakura but as I said before with Haku's addition there will be no more additions for reasons I've outlined in prior chapters. If you disagree with the choices that's fine but if they are so unacceptable to you that you can no longer stand to read the story then no hard feelings and I do genuinely hope you find a story you can enjoy more.**

**I also wanted to ask you a question!**

**If I decided to do a filler sort of chapter just focusing on all the harem girls (That we've met) getting together and interacting how would you feel about it? I had someone ask for this and I wasn't sure how people would respond but since I did say I wanted to do a few easy-going kinds of chapters before we got into the Chuinin exams it seems like a decent fit. If you guys want it then cool and if not then I'll go with my original plan but let me know!**

**Anyway, that's all from me for now, the next chapter WILL NO MATTER WHAT TAKE PLACE IN KONOHA, THIS I SWEAR!**

**But for real, take care!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

**Hey all! I'm back again with another chapter and true to my word we are finally back in Konoha! This chapter is a bit slow as I'm still crafting just how I want the next big story arc (The Chunin Exams) to go so in the meantime I hope you are all okay with these until I get stuff really nailed down for what I want. I hope you like the chapter and as always, I'll leave my more detailed thoughts at the end of the chapter!**

**In the meantime please enjoy!**

* * *

"And that concludes our report, Hokage-sama" Kakashi finished offering the aged leader one of his infamous eye smiles.

Behind his desk, Hiruzen could only sigh and rub his aching temples while he poured over the written and verbal reports of his subordinates detailing how their simple C-rank escort mission turned into an A borderline S-rank mission to liberate a country from a corrupt business tycoon.

He understood that in their world missions seldom went as smoothly as planned but this was a bit much even for them.

"I see... Kakashi we will have words at a later date in regards to your decision-making skills in this matter." He narrowed his eyes at the copy-ninja who had the decency to smile sheepishly knowing that he wasn't getting away scot-free bringing a group of genin into such a hostile environment, "However, you all did well and I'm glad to see you've returned unharmed and hopefully a bit wiser from this experience." He finished with a soft grandfatherly like smile towards the group.

The greatest ninja were generally forged in the fires of conflict and while he desired nothing more than peace he could still recognize potential and Team Seven practically oozed it even before this mission.

He then turned his eyes to the young lady standing beside the Uzumaki, she appeared docile enough but looks were often deceiving especially where kunoichi were involved.

"And Miss..." He trailed off slighlt prompting her for a preferred name.

"Momochi... Momochi Haku." She said hesitantly before finding the strength to claim the name as hers.

"Momochi-san, I hear you'd like to join this village." The Third gave nothing away in his words neither approval nor disapproval just a blank statement.

Haku shifted slightly under the stare of the aged but infinitely more powerful shinobi before stepping forward and offering a bow of respect and humility.

"Yes, sir"

He hummed softly, "You carry the name Momochi... are you perhaps the daughter of Zabuza Momochi?" He already knew the answer from Kakashi's report but how she answered his questions would allow him to see more of her character for himself.

She frowned, "I am not his daughter by blood, he took me in as a young child and raised me under his care... I adopt his name to honor him and because he was the closest thing to a father I had..." Her words were soft but she held a reserved pride in her assertions.

"I see..." She was honest if nothing else and that was a point in her favor, "Tell me, were you ever part of Kirikagure's forces?" He asked.

She shook her head, "I was never inducted into Kiri's forces due to special circumstances." They would have killed her on the spot the moment they'd found out about her abilities so that was never an option, "Shortly after taking me in Zabuza-sama defected and as such, I have no allegiance towards Kirikagure." She finished.

He nodded and leaned back in his chair.

Without having to cross all the red tape of taking in a shinobi from another village and his Anbu had yet to return with any information marking her as overly suspicious in any way.

He refocused, "If I were to allow you in would you join our shinobi forces or would you lead a civilian life?"

"I would prefer to join as a shinobi." Her answer was simple and immediate to be anything else would be counter to her promises.

"And what do you have to offer this village?"

She frowned but knew the topic was unavoidable, "I am the last known possessor the Ice Release bloodline limit of the Yuki clan which would not only bolster your forces presently but the village in the long term." The implication of settling down in this village and reving said clan within the village being obvious to all in the room. She'd spent long enough seeing Zabuza haggle with employers to know that she needed to sell her value, Kage no matter their appearance, wanted only to increase the strength of their village and she offered the means to do so.

The Third nodded slowly, "That is a compelling reason to allow you entry but I have to ask one last question of you Momochi-san..." He paused then continued, "Why do you wish to join this village personally? You could have gone anywhere else so why here?"

This he also knew based on Kakashi's report but he wanted to see just what the young woman wanted with their resident blond.

Haku stood straight and met piercing wisened eyes of the elder with pure devotion, "I wish to serve Naruto-sama first and foremost above all else, this is his home and so I am here." Simple and to the point but no less true should Naruto ever defect she would be by his side without question.

The Third said nothing merely nodding before he turned to the boy in question, "Genin Uzumaki step forward." His tone left no room for argument or rebuttal and so the boy stepped forward his gaze just as unflinching and he was reminded of the boy's father for a brief moment...

"Do you trust Momochi-san?" He asked.

"I do." He answered swiftly seemingly unfazed by the older shinobis inquisitive eyes.

"With your life?"

Once more with no hesitation, "I do."

"And with the lives of your comrades?"

"Absolutely."

The Third said nothing searching instead for any form of doubt, hesitation, or coercion in that steely blue glare... he found none.

He smiled and nodded easily dispelling the mounting tension as if it had never been there to begin with, "That is good enough for me." He turned back to Haku, "You will be allowed to remain in the village for the time being and during which you will be under probation."

There were still rules to this after all.

He continued, "You will be assigned a handler of sorts that you will report to once a week for the next three months and afterward should you be found trustworthy, you will be tested and given a rank based on your skill."

Haku bowed low, "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

The Third chuckled and waved her off, "Think nothing of it but now I must ask do you have a place you intend to stay or do you need lodging provided to you?"

Haku shifted nervously, "If it is acceptable I wish to remain with Naruto-sama... if he will allow it."

Behind them, Satsuki scowl unconsciously seemed to deepen but went unnoticed.

The Third didn't seem surprised by the request, "Are you willing to take that responsibility, Naruto?"

He nodded and grinned, "Sure she can stay with me."

The Third nodded, "Very well Momochi-san will stay with you until her probationary period ends whereupon she will be able to purchase her own accommodations if she chooses."

He then turned to the rest of Team Seven, "You all will be paid an adjusted amount given the difficulty of this mission as a reward for displaying the compassion and determination the village prides itself on. You will also be given a short leave given the circumstances so do make sure to rest up while you can."

With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the assembled group who bowed in respect before making their way out.

* * *

"Hehe, told you the Old man would let you in Haku-chan!"

Haku smiled but swatted the blond on the arm, "You should be more respectful Naruto-sama." She admonished him but agreed that the experience had gone much better than she'd expected. Had the aged leader declined to allow her in...

She decided it was best not to think of it.

He waved her off before suddenly stopping causing her to bump into him slightly.

"Is something wrong Naruto-sama?" She asked wondering what had caused him to stop in the middle of the road like that.

He recovered quickly and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "No, no! I just remembered that I've been gone for a few weeks and my apartment is probably..." He paused to find the word, "Less than put together at the moment." He finished weakly. A kind way of saying an utter mess.

Let it be known he wasn't always on top of cleaning.

He grinned and with a quick puff of smoke created a small group of clones, "You guys go on ahead and clean up, We'll be out getting Haku some basic necessities in the meantime." He ordered.

The clones saluted and rushed ahead leaving the two alone once more.

Haku laughed a bit at her master's lazy way of doing things, "It is good to see you thinking ahead Naruto-sama." She smiled mischievously, "You never want to bring a girl to a messy home, it might ruin the moment~"

She giggled when he didn't verbally respond, instead making a noise somewhere between a cough and a sigh before briskly walking in the other direction trying his best to push the other connotation of her words from his mind.

_So easy~_

The two did eventually make their way around allowing Haku to pick up a few extra pairs of clothing, bathing items, and more...feminine items, that of course had sparked a few more rounds of teasing but they'd managed to get everything with more than enough left over to cover food expenses and the like.

He thanked the stars they'd gotten that pay raise otherwise he might have had to take a decent hit to his savings.

"Oi! Naruto wait up!"

The pair stopped and turned at the sound of someone yelling at them from behind interrupting their conversation.

Naruto blinked then grinned when he saw who it was and waved happily, "Hey guys its been awhile!"

"A while?! You've been gone for like a month!" Ino shouted stomping up to the pair completely ignoring the female by his side and getting into her fellow blonds face, "Even Hinata and the Mutt didn't know where you were."

Behind the ranting heiress Choji, Shikari and Asuma had eventually caught up and made their way over offering apologetic looks towards the blond who was caught off guard by the sudden invasion of his personal space.

He held his hands up in a hopefully appeasing gesture, "We got sent out on a mission that took a bit longer than we expected and we just got back today." Then he frowned, "Why were you looking for me anyway?"

She looked at him like he was an idiot, "Because we still owe you for beating us a while back and I refuse to have all that time we spent training go to waste if I don't get to see you eat dirt this time around."

She was petty if nothing else and losing to her fellow blond had ticked her off to no end.

He rolled his eyes at the Yamanaka, "As fun as it would be to beat you again Ino..." He had to hold back a laugh at the venomous look she shot him, "I'm busy and kinda tired today so you'll have to wait some more." He shot a look towards Haku catching his fellow blonds attention.

"Oh I'm sorry, who are you?" Ino and her team look curiously at the older girl accompanying their classmate who smiled gently and bowed towards the group.

"Hello, I am Haku." She took a moment to memorize their faces before continuing, "It is a pleasure to meet you all." She finished with her normal serene expression that captivated the members of Team Ten.

_How was she so pretty?!_

Shikari being ever curious spoke up, "I don't think I've ever seen you around before are you new to the village?" She asked earning a nod from ice user.

"You are correct, I returned with Naruto-sama and his team to hopefully remain here permanently once I have been cleared by your Kage." She clarified answering the girls question.

"Wait, Naruto-sama?" Ino spun on her heel back to face the boy who seemed to age a hundred years in seconds already knowing how this was going to end, "What the hell kind of mission was this?!" She shouted causing him to wince at her volume.

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance, why did Haku have to say that in front of the potentially the biggest gossip in the entire freaking village?

"It's a long complicated story but the short of it is that Haku-chan has _willingly_..." He stressed the word when he caught sight of the less than pleasant glare she was sending his way, "Decided she wants to stay with me and she refuses to budge on the whole sama thing."

He'd tried to get her to stop but it seems she took immense joy from his suffering and had refused to call him anything else, he couldn't even get her to just say Naruto-san again for Kami's sake!

Ino opened her mouth more than prepared to unleash a slew of questions, comments, and concerns but a sharp cough from Asuma spared them all from the incoming tirade, "Ino you'll have the chance to harass him later we still have missions to run today."

He sent a small wink at the boy who practically radiated gratitude towards the older man.

Ino huffed but nodded, "You better explain yourself properly next time." She then turned to Haku and smiled kindly, "I hope all goes well and if he does anything weird just let me know and I'll sort it out okay?"

He deadpanned at the blatant disregard for his presence and the less than subtle implication of his intentions while Haku merely giggled softly and offered the young Yamanaka her assurances that she would indeed report any 'strange' activity to the blond.

Choji laughed and patted the blond on the shoulder wishing him the best of luck and offered his own quick introduction to their newest resident before moving on with the rest of his team.

Shikari seemed curious by the prospect but in typical Nara fashion felt it was far too troublesome to pursue it further right now, she'd find out eventually anyway so why rush it?

"Yo, Shika-chan!" The blond called out to her before they could make it too far, the rest of Team Ten pausing to see what the hold up was.

Shikari for her part blinked in confusion when the boy walked over and handed her a small black box with an etched depiction of waves on the cover, "I picked up some stuff before we came back that I thought was cool." He grinned and made his way back over to his companion who was waiting for him, "It reminded me of you so I hope you like it!"

With that, the duo quickly waved their goodbyes and disappeared into the busy crowd and bustling streets.

"Wait he got you a gift but I didn't get anything?!" she shook her fist and yelled out into the street hoping he could still hear her, "You're gonna get it next time Uzumaki!"

Shikari tuned out her teammates yelling as she'd long since grown accustomed to doing since before they were even paired up and opened the small box revealing its contents to the rest of her team...

A simple necklace with a tough but soft looking black rope in place of a standard chain was tucked neatly inside which was fitting given her slight distaste for flashy items but the real centerpiece was likely what had drawn the comparison between the two in the blond's mind.

In the middle, a small silver ornament in the shape of a deer stag's head sat proudly facing outwards with its metal horns arching upwards like tree branches, in place of its eye sockets were two bright green gems that glinted softly in the sunlight that gave the ornament an almost intelligent expression as though it was alive and surveying all it could see.

Fitting for a Nara.

She stared at the piece for a while before chuckling softly and closing the box with a small smile, "Troublesome blond..." She muttered before placing the gift carefully into her pouch for safe keeping.

She'd have to repay him later, maybe take him out to eat or something.

"Oooo Shika is there something going on that you haven't told me~" Ino bounced in place as her inner gossip made a center stage appearance, "You have to tell me every-"

"If you don't stop right now your mother is going to find out just what _exactly_ happened to her favorite dress last week." Shikari said cutting her fellow heiress off who went rather pale and began to sweat at the serious look on the normally lax Nara's face.

"W-Wait! No need for that I was just playing!" Ino waved her arms frantically, "No one needs to know about that!"

She scoffed and turned on her heel walked off back in their originally intended direction and forcing Ino to chase after her pleading the entire way while Choji and Asuma could only watch and shake their heads.

_Women were weird._

* * *

"They seemed nice." Haku commented as she was led back towards the edge of the village, "Ino-san doesn't seem too fond of you though." She chuckled laughing slightly at the exasperated expression on his face.

"Bah, Ino is like that all the time you can ignore her." He waved off the concern, "How about the other two Choji and Shika-chan are pretty cool."

"I believe Choji is the round one, correct?" Seeing his nod she continued, "He seems kind enough, a bit like you if you were more... portly." She finished trying not to insult either the Akimichi boy or her master.

He grinned and nudged her, "Choji's actually super nice so I'll take that as a compliment, though as a word of warning never call him fat or even use the word around him its kinda a touchy subject for him."

She nodded, "So the last one must have been this 'Shika-chan'?" She guessed.

He nodded, "Her full name is Shikari but we shorten it, she's nice too but she's also scary smart when it comes to... pretty much everything now that I think about it." He couldn't recall the last time Shikari actually struggled to understand anything.

She hummed softly, "I look forward to meeting the rest of your precious people they are much brighter than I am accustomed to." She loved Zabuza without question but he was not exactly the most expressive person especially when compared to the blond at her side.

He smiled at the thought of his friends welcoming her into their group, "You'll see them soon enough!"Then he pouted and sent a mock glare her way, "Just please stop trying to get me in trouble!" He whined.

She sent an innocent look his way that did little to convince him that she wouldn't cause any trouble, "I will be on my best behavior, Naruto-sama~"

He glared while he fished around for his keys, "I somehow very much doubt that." He promptly ignored the fake hurt expression she sent him and opened the door to his apartment allowing Haku to step in first.

"Here it is, home sweet home." He placed their bags down and gestured to the cozy if somewhat worn down little apartment, "Sorry, it's a bit small I wasn't exactly expecting to get a roommate anytime soon." He apologized.

She frowned and shook her head, "Please do not apologize I was the one who imposed myself upon you..." She did feel a bit guilty in hindsight that he'd done his best to accommodate her while she could offer him very little in return. She had some money saved but not nearly enough to afford her own place but rather a few meals and some of the clothing they'd bought for her.

He waved her off quickly, "It's fine I agreed to this and with a bit more time, I'm sure we can get the place up to snuff and Jiji did say you could move into your own place after your probation period ends so it'll work out I'm sure." He reassured her.

She nodded decided not to comment on the fact that she didn't have any plans on leaving unless she absolutely had to and instead took a moment to look around the small home. It wasn't too bad all things considered containing all the necessities anyone could need but it was still clearly very much built for one person so there would definitely need to be some adjustments made.

"Thankfully, neither of us have that many clothes so I was able to clear out some space in my drawers for your stuff and I already had some clean sheets tucked away." He commented while moving about the house to take inventory, "Anything else we can pick up later unless you need something urgently."

"Ano... Do you have a futon for me to sleep on?" She asked seeing that there was only one bed in this house.

He blinked and turned to her, "I planned on giving you the bed and I was going to take my couch." He explained gesturing to the rather lumpy looking piece of furniture taking up the far wall. "I never had guests so I never bothered to buy a futon and I kinda forgot while we were out hehe..." He trailed off.

She glanced between him and the uncomfortable looking piece of furniture, "Naruto-sama I can't ask you to do that." She was already being a burden as it stood she couldn't just take over his home as well.

"Then it's a good thing you didn't ask me." He had a feeling she was going to be stubborn about it though he didn't understand why it was a big deal, "You're a guest and my friend I can easily put up with a little discomfort until I can arrange something." He shrugged, "I can buy a futon tomorrow and sleep on the floor since fitting another bed in here is a bit much."

She was about to protest but she could see that he wasn't going to budge and so she paused before begrudgingly agreeing to his terms but she swore the moment she could she'd make it up to him.

Before they could discuss it further a knock at the door interrupted them.

"Were you expecting guests Naruto-sama?" She asked her body unconsciously tensing from years of looking over her shoulder while on the run.

He frowned, "Not that I know of no." He got up and walked to the door.

"Hello?"

"Uzumaki-san I am here on order of the Third, would you kindly open the door." A faint voice called from the other side.

He obliged and the two were greeted by a male Anbu member wearing a bird mask who bowed and uttered a quiet thanks before straightening and handing the blond a thick envelope.

"Please pass this onto Momochi-san as it contains details for her to begin the process of integrating into the village and also contains the address and timing for her first meeting with her assigned handler." He informed.

Before either could respond the Anbu vanished leaving no evidence he'd ever been there at all.

"Well, that was... something." He finished lamely closing the door and handing the heavy package to Haku who quickly set to work going over its contents being mostly paperwork and information that she would need to submit to the village along with consent forms and the like.

She sighed but knew that in the end having a real home and more importantly having purpose was more important to her than some paperwork.

She still wasn't a fan of just how many forms there were though, there was caution and then there was paranoia and it seems hidden villages were more than content to sit firmly in the camp of paranoia.

He gave her a quick pat on the back and handed her a pen, she was in for a long afternoon.

* * *

"Are you sure you want to go by yourself?" He asked, "I really don't mind going with you ya know."

She nodded, "Yes while I appreciate your presence I need to learn to navigate the village on my own." She could not rely on him for everything after all, "I doubt I will be done until later in the day so you might as well enjoy yourself."

He frowned slightly but conceded her point, "Alright just be safe okay?"

She smiled reassuringly and waved as she walked out in the opposite direction and, "I will I promise." She said and within moments she had faded from view leaving him alone.

Well now he had nothing to do so he might as well hang around the village for a bit, he still needed to buy a futon and he could stop by the Library and visit Amagi and if he had the time the Ichiraku's as well.

"Why are these so expensive?!"

He groaned as he searched through the various bedding options available, there were cheap ones but he needed something that would last a while but he wasn't too keen on breaking his bank just to sleep on the floor of all things.

"Maybe my couch isn't that bad..." He grumbled eventually deciding on a set that wasn't too pricey and looked decent enough for his needs and wouldn't completely cover his floor.

"Whiskers? Is that you?" A gruff but familiar voice called out to him breaking him from his mutterings.

He blinked, only one person called him that...

"Kibble?" He asked turning around to see the now scowling face of one Kira Inzuka glaring in his direction though she wasn't dressed in her usual thick fur hoodie and instead sported a simple baggy white shirt and black biker shorts and her usual blue sandals.

"I thought I told you not to call me that you shitty blond." She barked making her way over to him, "And where the hell have you been anyway? No one has seen your team in like forever." She asked making her way over to him.

He rolled his eyes at the insult, "We just got back yesterday from an assignment that ended up getting out of hand, I was gonna stop by but I had some stuff to handle and kinda ended up putting it off."

"How out of hand are we talking?" She asked curiously, her team had taken some simple C-ranks but everything had been pretty smooth sailing so far, granted they were mostly on guard duty or finding missing items so there wasn't much danger involved to begin with.

"A-rank levels of out of hand." He replied and chuckled at the gobsmacked look on her face.

"Bullshit! There is no way that's true!" She denied, how the hell had things gone that bad?!

He shrugged, "Believe what you want but it's true you can even ask Sakura or Princess and they'll tell you the same thing." He could understand her skepticism given their rivalry but she knew he wasn't one to lie about things like this.

She frowned, "Tsk... you have to give me the details I won't believe it until I hear the full story."

"Fine but I need to pay for this first and speaking of which, why are you here anyway? Don't you have training today?" She certainly wasn't dressed for a mission and he didn't see Akamaru with her which was rare given the two went everywhere together.

She shook her head, "We've got the day off since Kurenai-sensei had something to do today and I'm just running a few errands for my sister since she's giving Akamaru a checkup right now." She held up a shopping bag filled with various supplies and items.

He nodded as he rung up his items, "I see I take it Shino and Hinata are off at home as well?" He asked.

"The little mouse has some kind of clan training today and I think bug boy is out doing whatever it is he does when we don't meet up." She shrugged what her teammates did during their time off wasn't her business.

He sighed at her rather crude nicknames but nodded regardless, grabbing his items the two exited and made their way back out into the village, "So are you heading back now?"

She nodded, "Yeah Sis will be on my ass if I'm late..." She paused before she looked back at him, "Hey if you're free why not come over?" She offered which earned her a surprised look from the blond at the sudden request, "You've never been to my house before and it's not like you have anything going on if you're out buying a futon." She snickered.

He pouted, she wasn't exactly wrong but she didn't have to say it like that...

"Are you sure it's okay for me to just show up?" He never actually been over to any of his friend's homes seeing as they'd always just met up either at the academy, the park or some of the training yards. This was the first time he'd been invited over.

She waved him off, "Yeah it's fine I doubt my sister will care all that much and Mom isn't home now so it's whatever." She grinned wolfishly and nudged him, "So come on it'll be cool plus you still have to tell me about your mission anyway so it all works out."

He considered it for a moment, Haku said she'd probably be out for the rest of the day so he wasn't really in a rush and he wasn't really up to train today so there wasn't any harm in it...

"Sure, why not." He agreed, earning a loud whoop from the girl who quickly began pulling him in the direction of her clans compound.

"Awesome, you'll love it and if you're lucky maybe a few of the pups will take a liking to you if you behave~" She teased.

"If they can deal with you I'm sure I'll be fine." He fired back earning a light-hearted scowl from the feral girl

"Tsk... shitty blond."

"Dog Breath."

* * *

He wasn't exactly sure what he'd been expecting the Inuzuka's clan compound to look like but he was more than a bit taken off guard when he saw just how huge the place was. It wasn't overly fancy with each home appearing modest in size but still more spacious than he'd imagined and probably why their compound was so far out likely to accommodate the sheer size of the group.

"So what do you think?" Kira asked taking slight pride in the bewildered look on her friends face, "Pretty impressive right?"

"Why is it so big?" He asked.

"Well our dogs need a lot of space, we have a lot of people, and we kinda have a thing for nature so it just made sense to live out here where we can have all of that or at least that's what Mom says." She answered navigating through the busy streets offering greetings and petting the occasional ninken that wandered close as she went.

Eventually, the duo made it to the main compound, a building that leaned a bit closer to the mansions he'd envisioned but was just shy of such a title.

"Leave your stuff by the front so nothing happens to them, the clinic is in the back and you don't want the pups getting a hold of anything that you aren't willing to replace." She warned prompting him to swiftly tuck his valuables by the door after all the money he'd just spent he wasn't looking to spend any more than he had to right now.

Taking a moment to look inside he was surprised at just how clean the house was, Kira wasn't the tidiest person and given the reputation of the clan he was sort of expecting it to be...

Well, messier if he was being honest.

He yelped when he felt Kira jab his side, "You were thinking the house was going to be a mess weren't you..."

He waved her off clutching his side as she leaned over him, "N-No I was just admiring how nice it all is hehe..." He chuckled nervously as she eyed him suspiciously for a few moments before bursting out into laughter.

"I'm only messing with ya, lots of people have that reaction so don't worry about it." She grabbed his arm and led him through the house to the back, "Mom's kinda strict about keeping the house clean so anything we make a mess of tends to get cleaned up real quick."

He'd never seen Kira's mother though according to the girl she supposedly looked very similar to herself though he wasn't sure how true that was.

Kira pushed open a thick screen door and stepped confidently into a new room, the wooden floor beneath them changing into cold tile flooring and sterile white walls.

"We're back!" Kira hollered and he nearly panicked when three large hounds burst from around the corners of the room and barreled into his friend swiftly burying her under a pile of paws and fur. If she hadn't started laughing he would have thought she was being mauled under there.

"Oi! Get off me already you bums!" Kira grinned and wrestled the dogs to the ground pinning them despite their size through the three seemed to be enjoying the roughhousing playfully nipping at her hands and wagging their tails, "We have a guest so behave." She admonished bringing the three back into line.

The trio took notice of the blond at the girl's side and quickly made their over to take in the newcomer who shifted a bit at their sudden investigation but made no move to stop them knowing this was just how dogs were.

Granted most dogs weren't the size of small wolves but he the general idea was the same...

Eventually, the three seemed to be satisfied that there was nothing wrong with him and the apparent leader of the trio brushed against his leg prompting him to hesitantly pet the large canine who panted happily at the attention leaning into palm. This seemed to push the others to demand pets as well leading to the blond being buried in a similar fashion causing Kira to snicker at her friend's predicament.

"What's with all the commotion over here?"

Kira turned and waved, "Hey Sis just the triplets giving Whiskers here a good old fashioned Inuzuka welcome." She laughed and gestured to the pile on the floor, "Don't think you could get a better greeting anywhere else."

Managing to just poke his head out of the writhing mass of fur he turned to face Kira's sister and it took him a moment to see the resemblance, unlike Kira her sister possessed much softer features such as rounder pupils compared to her younger sister sharp slit ones and her hair was tied back into a short ponytail as opposed to Kira's wild mane giving her a less feral appearance. She did, however, possess the same red tribal-like markings on her cheeks and their general face shape was the same so he supposed she might have just taken more after a different family member.

"You brought a guest?" She raised her eyebrows at her sister, "And a boy too, I guess you aren't a completely lost cause after all." She said in a sarcastic tone with a cheeky grin earning a scowl from the younger Inuzuka who glared at her in annoyance.

"Shut up it's not like that! I'm not like you." She huffed before yelping when she was pulled into a headlock by the older girl who was now scowling at the younger Inuzuka.

"The hell does that mean you little brat?!"

He wasn't sure whether to laugh or sigh at the bickering siblings but decided he'd wait for them to have their little moment while he returned to petting the trio of dogs on top of him who preened happily under his touch.

The two did eventually settle down and he was properly introduced to his friends older sibling, "Sorry about that, I don't know if my runt of a sister has told you about me but I'm Hana Inuzuka it's a pleasure to meet you." She introduced offering her hand which he took with a shake.

"It's nice to meet you and she's mentioned you a few times." He replied idly noting her rather firm grip.

From behind her sister, Kira held a finger to her mouth knowing full well the times she did mention her sister her words were less than flattering...

Hana, however, knew her sister and rolled her eyes, "Nothing good I'm sure." She shot a dirty look towards her little sister who chuckled nervously before she turned back to him, "I take it you're this 'Whiskers' the runts always going on about?" She asked staring curiously at the whisker like markings adorning the blond's cheeks.

He nodded, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, but she likes to call me Whiskers for obvious reasons." He answered with a grin causing Hana to laugh at his almost fox like visage.

"It's a pleasure to meet you though I always thought you'd be a bit bigger..." She turned to her sister with a slightly amused expression, "This id the guy that you always lose to?"

Kira growled and huffed crossing her arms petulantly, "He's tougher than he looks ya know and I don't always lose I won our last fight!" She grumbled trying to maintain what scraps of dignity she could.

At least her mom wasn't here or this would be much worse...

Hana for her part had to stifle a laugh at her sister's deflated expression, it was the little things that made being an older sister wonderful.

"Well if you're here would you like to help me run the rest of the checkup now that my cute little assistant has returned with my stuff." She cooed at her sister who rolled her eyes and handed her the supplies that thankfully had survived the encounter with the triplets.

"Can I? I've never really worked with animals before." He didn't know anything about taking care of animals and he didn't count chasing down and capturing Tora as valid pet care.

"If the triplets trust you then you can't be too bad and I'm sure my brat of a sister can help you with anything you're struggling with." She smiled and walked the two further into the clinic passing rows upon rows of kennels filled with dogs and other animals.

Kira pouted, "Don't volunteer me for things and you said you just needed me to run errands not help with the animals." She complained but followed nonetheless allowing herself to be led through the clinic.

Hana grinned smugly, "It's not like you have anything else to do today anyway so you might as well make yourself useful." Then she leaned down and whispered into her sister's ear making sure their blond companion couldn't hear them...

He wasn't sure what the two were saying but the sudden blush on Kira's face and the hash whispers and curses being thrown back and forth clued him into the fact that this was probably another one of those "sisterly moments" that he wanted no part of.

Finally, they arrived at their destination, a large back room with a large metal tub grafted into the wall. Beside the tub sat a large array of grooming and cleaning products for all kinds of creatures from the mundane to the more... exotic?

_Who in the world was making boar shampoo?!_

Hana pushed the two in merrily and assigned them their tasks, "Since you're new to this rather than bore you with my usual work you two get the fun part." She pointed to a little gate that appeared to connect to another room, "That little gate will open up to let in the animals that are nearly ready to be released, your job will just be to give them a good washing so we can return them in the best possible condition."

She turned back to them, "We've got a few backed up so just do your best!" She didn't even give them a moment to respond before she sauntered out of the room, closing the door behind her with a slam.

The two just deadpanned at the door...

"Sorry about this..." Kira scratched her head and looked at the floor, "I didn't expect her to put us to work." She didn't mind working at the clinic but she'd planned on them hanging out today not doing more work. "You can go home if you want it's really not your responsibility."

He bumped her shoulder lightly and gave a foxy grin to reassure her, "It's cool, this actually sounds kinda fun so don't worry about it and I can't leave you to do all this by yourself." He rolled up his sleeves and grabbed a bottle of shampoo, "Besides how bad could it be to wash a few animals?" He joked.

* * *

_It turns out that it was actually pretty hard..._

"Get in the tub damn it!" He growled as he struggled to push one of the larger dogs into the metal bin with the dog in question planting its rear firmly against the ground and shaking its head while it stared hatefully at the water nozzle.

"You'll drink it without a problem so sit in it!" He roared his chakra surging around him as he lifted the stubborn dog and dropped him into the tub much to the annoyance of said dog who howled angrily and trashed covering him in a new wave of soapy puppy water.

_GOOD BOYS HIS ASS!_

"Get back here you little brat!" Behind him, Kira was having her own problems as she chased a rather excitable pup around the room with a brush and comb, "Just let me brush you for Kami's sake!" She shouted nearly tripping in one of the many puddles littering the floor

"Arf Arf!"

"What the hell did you just call me?!" She roared taking a dive at the smug pup who rolled out of the way at last moment sending the heiress sliding into the wall with a loud thup and groan of pain

"Arf Arf Arf!"

"I'm going to shave you blad you little rat!"

Needless to say, things weren't going as smoothly as they'd hoped and Hana had conveniently failed to mention that most of the animals in need of a wash today were the more rowdy group of patients in her care.

They cursed the older Inuzuka who sat in her office chuckling quietly to herself at their shouts and screams of frustration before sending yet another furry guest over to greet them and waited.

Three... two... one...

"DID YOU JUST PEE ON MY ARM?!"

She snickered, she needed her sister to bring friends around more often she hadn't had this much fun in a while.

_**-A few hours and many washed dogs later-**_

He sighed and wiped his brow, "I think that's the last of them..." The gate hadn't opened up in a while so he assumed that Hana had probably finished her list for the day and Kira had just finished grooming the last of their fuzzy visitors marking the end of this little session.

"It better be I don't think I can handle any more of this for one day." She grunted, she was soaked, cold, and tired as hell and while she loved their clan's dogs that didn't mean they couldn't be a pain to care for.

There was a reason she didn't want to be a vet like her sister after all.

He laughed and turned to face her wiping his face with one of the spare towels, "It was certainly something but you gotta admit it wasn't that bad."

She snorted, "Says the one who _wasn't _held at scissor point by a yappy Pomeranian." That wasn't even one of their ninken for crying out loud! How the hell it managed to wield a pair of freaking scissors better than she could use a kunai was beyond her.

She cursed whoever owned that pup to the deepest darkest abyss.

"Such a drama queen." He chuckled, "At least we're finished now so you can stop complaining you big baby~"

She stuck her tongue out at him and the two made their way out of the washing room and into the main section of the clinic where Hana was waiting, her face set into a small smile as the soaked and tired duo made their way out.

"Sooooo" She grinned, "Did you two have fun?"

They glared at her and without a word made their way back into the house while doing their best to ignore the elder Inuzuka cackling behind them at their misfortune.

* * *

"So you're telling me you all somehow managed to beat _the_ Zabuza Momochi and liberate an entire country all on your own" Kira stared incredulously at the blond who was shoving rice into his mouth like it was no big deal.

"Technically we didn't beat him and Zabuza kinda freed the country by killing Gato but overall yeah." He said shrugging his shoulders and taking a bite of a piece of meat, "Thank you for the meal Hana it's really good!" He praised getting a smile from the woman who waved him off.

"It was the least I could do in exchange for your help and the story, you're first mission was way better than mine." She pouted and sighed dramatically, "A two week trip just to deliver a letter to some merchant and bandits didn't even have the courtesy to attack us along the way."

"It was fun but I think I'd take an easy mission over that again, at least for a while anyway." Don't get him wrong he loved a challenge but there were limits and giant sword-wielding rogues coupled with corrupt tyrants had more than filled his quota for the next few weeks.

He glanced up at a nearby clock and cursed quietly, he needed to get back in time to make sure Haku wasn't lost. While he really doubted anything would happen to her given her skills he didn't want some moron getting her in trouble. Wolfing the rest of the food down he quickly stood and bowed to the two Inuzuka sisters.

"Thank you again for inviting me and the meal but I have to go, I completely lost track of time and I need to meet up with someone before it gets too dark." He explained making his way over to grab his stuff.

"You have to go already?" Kira seemed rather disappointed at the prospect, having appreciated the reprieve from her normal routine, "You sure you can't hang out a little longer?" She asked earning a negatory shake from the blond.

"It's important so I can't..." He frowned at the pout on the usually excitable heiresses face, "But if it's cool with you I'd be happy to come again sometime if you want." He offered.

"Sure!" She grinned and bounded over walking with him over to the doorway, "We usually get Sundays off so if you wanna drop by then we can hang out." She said.

He nodded and waved farewell to Hana who returned the gesture with a smile, "If you ever wanna help out again I can always use another assistant~" She laughed.

"I'll think about it." He chuckled and the duo made their way out into the compound and down the path leading to the exit back into the village just enjoying the vibrant sunset sky above as they walked along the dirt road.

"You know..." He started calling Kira's attention to him, "I had a lot of fun today hanging out with you." He smiled and bumped into the slightly larger girl with a laugh, "It wasn't what I was expecting but I enjoyed myself a lot so thanks." He said sincerely.

It had been a long time since the two of them had just sat around and hung out like this, he couldn't remember the last time he'd just hung out with someone his age let alone Kira.

She smiled softly and nodded in agreement, "Yeah... I guess it was pretty cool to just chill out for a bit." She enjoyed fighting with him, she enjoyed arguing with him, hell she just enjoyed getting on his nerves if she was being honest... but at the same time, she kinda had to admit that it was just nice to have someone like her around.

Hinata was fun but she was so prim and proper that she struggled to just cut loose, Shino was nice but he followed logic over emotion and so he couldn't enjoy challenge just for the sake of the challenge.

Shikari might as well have been her polar opposite and Choji was too gentle for her to go all out with and she'd never got along well with Ino or Sakura even if apparently the two had begun to grow up a bit more and the less said about the arrogant Uchiha survivor the better.

Really the blond by her side was the closest thing she had to a best friend... well best friend that wasn't a dog anyway.

"Hmmm..."

"Something on your mind Kibble?" He asked seeing the contemplative look on her face swiftly shifting her attention away from her thoughts and back into the moment.

"Huh? Nah its nothing was just wondering what we're gonna do tomorrow at training." She waved him off and dismissed her thoughts. She wasn't one to overthink things any way she preferred to act, she understood that she enjoyed his company and that was all she really needed to know.

Simple and to the point.

"If you say so." He said as the two approached the gate signaling the end of the borders of the compound and the start of the short trail back to the main sections of the village, "I guess this is it then."

She nodded, "Yeah the rest of the way is pretty obvious so even you shouldn't have too much trouble~" She teased good-naturedly letting out a bark of laughter when he pouted knowing full well that he wasn't always the best with directions.

You get lost one time and they never let it go.

"Haha very funny." He rolled his eyes but couldn't help but join her with a few chuckles of his own, "Hey, before I forget..."

She watched as he reached into his pouch and pulled out a small black box which he handed to her, "I picked up some things while I was in Wave and I thought you might like it." His smile grew sheepish and he rubbed the back of his head, "I know you're not big on 'girly' stuff but maybe you'll like it."

She offered a distracted word of thanks more preoccupied with his gift than his words and opened the little box, careful not to crush the packaging in her hands seeing the elaborate design on the front and peered inside.

Sitting neatly tucked away was a necklace with a black braided string in place of a silver or gold chain and along its length were a series of dark red almost black beads separated by small intervals of string but what really caught her attention was the two decorative ornaments placed proudly in the center.

Two fang shaped ornaments hung at each side of the string, the left-most fang was a pitch-black but had a glossy finish as though it was made from ebony or obsidian, while the rightmost fang was a bright white likely made from ivory. Both were topped off by a sort of silver crown in the shape of a howling wolf's head that wrapped around them.

This was so badass...

He coughed awkwardly at her silence, "It's cool if you don't like it I just thought that it suite-_oof!_" His rambling was cut off when she suddenly shot forward and he unexpectedly found himself wrapped in a tight hug the rest of his words being muffled by her chest as she embraced him.

"Shut up it's so freaking cool!" She grinned squeezing him one final time before stepping back and pulling out the piece, promptly slipping it over her neck and happily inspecting the twin fangs between her fingers, familiarizing itself with their texture, "How does it look?" She asked bearing her neck to give him a better view of the savage yet still elegant piece of jewelry.

He smiled and nodded positively, the necklace really did suit her fitting very well with her tribal clan markings and generally, feral appearance enhancing the look, "It looks really good on you, young wolf." He joked but she could tell his words were sincere and she beamed at the title puffing her chest out in pride.

"Hehe, thanks!" She felt herself warm slightly at the compliment and she punched his arm effort to calm herself down lest she hug him again, "Don't think this means I'm going to hold back on you next time we fight though, I'm still gonna prove that I'm alpha of the pack." She grinned.

"We'll see about that pup." He mocked and the two shared one last laugh before he began to walk away, "Take care Kira and give my regards to everyone tomorrow!" He called out.

"I will!" She shouted as she watched him fade off into the distance the glow of the setting sun at his back, she smiled softly to herself her fingers still twiddling with her new necklace before she finally made her way back with a large grin.

She was looking forward to their next outing!

* * *

**AN. Chapter Complete!**

**So that was a cute chapter I think and it didn't take a month to come out which is already a plus in my book lol. I rewrote their outing like three times trying to make something that really fit their characters and their current relationship without feeling forced and I think this worked out fairly well.**

**So moving on I know many of you probably want to move into the Chunin Exams already and believe me I do too! However, the Chunin Exams are something I want to spend a bit more time planning out because of just how much can change in regards to story events going forward based on a ton of things that happen during this time.**

**What villages and characters show up, who gets promoted, how the invasion goes if there even is one, does Satsuki get the curse mark and if so how will that play out, who trains Naruto, etc. With so much on the table, I really want to make sure I get it right so please forgive me if it seems like I'm stalling or doing fluff chapters. I do want to do chapters like this that give the characters more time to connect but at the same time, I don't want it to seem like I am unaware that people still want to see major stuff happen. So please bear with me!**

**So while I'm setting that up I thought it would be nice to have our boy interact with characters we haven't seen in a long while and get away from Haku and Satuski because while I love them as well they have had a lot of time spent on them. I do plan to do something like this for every girl at some point where we can see them in a more normal setting Kira just happened to go first based on a coin flip.**

**I wanted to write Kira in a way that gave her a bit more depth and fleshed out her way of thinking when compared to the other girls. Kira actually is my favorite because with her I never feel bogged down with her actions being out of character because by her nature she is meant to be impulsive and direct. Not to say she can't think but she prefers to trust her instincts and feelings as opposed to overthinking and so she is more fun to write than someone like Satsuki who I always need to reign in a bit because of her own stubbornness or Hinata who is more reserved. Even Haku has her limits despite her teasing nature.**

**For the next chapter, I am debating either doing something like this for Shikari or doing a training chapter then starting the chunin exams. You guys can let me know which you would prefer if you pick the moment with Shikari than the training will be done through a time skip and if you choose the training I'll just do Shikari's moment at a later date so just give your honest thoughts on that.**

**In regards to the harem, nothing has changed the cast is still the same and I'm still deciding on Tayuya (another reason I want to make sure everything is planned well). A lot of you have chimed in on your thoughts regarding her and I do want to say that I listen to all of your feedback so please don't think you are being ignored!**

**To those that still don't seem to accept that the choices are finalized, you are free to continue your endeavor to try and get me to change my mind but it's still pointless, the reasons have been explained and I've been polite but firm about it so I'm done addressing it here.**

**As always, thank you for reading, let me know what your thoughts and suggestions are in the reviews/my PMs and I'll see you all in the next chapter!**


	23. Chapter 23

_**Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing!**_

_**I want to say thank you all for the support on the last chapter, I wasn't expecting much response to it but a lot of you were very kind in your reviews which was just great! **_

_**I want to put out another quick disclaimer before you read this, this chapter is mostly set up for the Chunin Exam arc of the story so not much really happens here. I explain why I do this at the end so please read the AN at the bottom! There are some hints as to what I might do with Team Seven going forward that you'll probably catch onto but keep in mind not to take anything too literally until its confirmed!**_

_**Also, note that I removed the Harem Guideline Chapter since everything is pretty much decided and it finally puts the chapters in perfect order.**_

_**Anyway, I hope you still enjoy the story nonetheless.**_

* * *

"Stop leaving you sides open Sakura!" He shouted easily ducking under an overhead kick, "Unless you have an immediate follow up don't overextend yourself!" He lectured.

Sakura grunted doing her best to weave between strikes but nodded showing she'd heard him and the two engaged once more flurries of jabs, kicks, and punches being traded between them as they pushed back and forth across the training field.

Naruto flinched when Sakura managed to pull a quick feint landing a solid blow to his stomach rather than his face where he'd been expecting and he smirked with approval when she managed to redirect his counter attack to slide into his guard and launch a vicious elbow strike to his chest sending him stumbling slightly.

She was improving and even though he was going easy on her he could already see the difference in the fluidity of her movements compared to the last time they'd spared a few weeks ago.

"That was good Sakura! You're starting to react instinctually now and you've memorized the counters from the scroll pretty quickly." He praised earning him a beaming smile from the exhausted but satisfied pinkette.

"Thanks Naruto! Though I still have a long way to go before I'm even close to you guys." She pouted though unlike before her words were not filled with self-doubt but rather understanding, she knew that the road ahead of her was long but that gap was closing every day little by little every day.

He laughed merrily and patted her on the shoulder, "You're not as far off as you might think you know, right now you're already leaps and bounds ahead of where you were when we graduated. Keep the pace up and you'll be right next to us in no time." He praised making the girl flush slightly at the honest vote of confidence.

He really did mean it though, despite her rough start Sakura actually was very talented but she'd been held back by her lack of physical strength and misguided priorities. Once focused, she had actually begun to improve far quicker than he'd expected, making use of her near-perfect memory to quickly internalize taijutsu stances and katas as well as her theoretical understanding allowing her to break down complex ideas with ease.

Her only flaw was that she struggled to translate that knowledge into action but with their sessions, she had begun to bring her body up to speed with her mind. Give her a few more months and she would be more than a danger in her own right.

"You've been practicing during your off time right?" He asked taking a seat in the grass and grabbing a bottle of water to cool off, "You look like you've performed that move before." He noted handing her a bottle that she took gratefully.

She took a swig and nodded, "Yeah I've been working on it since you helped me pick out those books, it was a bit hard to practice the counters without a sparring partner but I wanted it to be a surprise." She grinned and pumped her fist in determination, "I'm hoping to have a few more of the moves down before our next team session tomorrow!"

It had been about two weeks since they'd returned and Sakura had approached him a few days after seeking to continue their training which he'd happily agreed, seeing as Satsuki was off doing whatever she did when she was alone and Haku was still busy going through the process of settling in. With access to the resources that had guided him the duo had quickly gone about setting the pinkette up with everything she would need to get her to a solid state.

_***Flashback***_

_"Heyo! Amagi-chan I'm back!" He called entering into the main hall of the library with Sakura in tow who was looking at the large collection of books in wonder, having always defaulted to the Academy's library for her studies she'd never bothered to go anywhere else and with perfect grades she'd never really needed to._

_"Indoor voice please Naruto-kun." The older woman admonished him but she smiled at his presence, gliding over and embracing the boy in a quick hug, "Where have you been? I thought you had forgotten about me?" She playfully accused tugging lightly on his whiskered cheeks._

_"I could never!" He grinned not at all bothered by the pulling, "I was just away on a mission was all, things kinda got out of hand and we were delayed a bit." He explained leaving out the fact the delay was because they'd nearly died._

_He doubted she would take such knowledge well even if it did come with the job description._

_She nodded, idly running her fingers through his hair as per usual with a soft smile, "You'll have to tell me about it sometime, but what brings you here today and with a guest no less?" She asked taking a moment to glance at the young girl accompanying the blond who bowed in greeting which she returned with her own._

_"Hello Ma'am, my name is Sakura Haruno and I was hoping to find some books that might assist me in my training." She explained politely though she was curious at how close her teammate was a librarian of all people. While he'd mentioned that he'd studied here he never said anything about the black-haired woman standing before them._

_Naruto piped in to explain further, "She's my teammate and I'm helping her fix some holes in her skills and I figured what better place to go than where I started." He laughed rubbing the back of his head._

_Amagi smiled feeling a small amount of pride for the part she had played in his development both as a competent ninja and a kind-hearted person._

_"I'm glad you are taking the time to help your teammate and I would be happy to help you find whatever you need Sakura-san." She smirked at the duo and beckoned them to follow behind her, "Come on and let's see if we can't get you what you're looking for."_

_***Flashback End***_

Amagi and Sakura had unsurprisingly hit it off rather well and Sakura would now generally accompany him during his visits to speak with the library head when she could, The two would take a bit of 'girl time' as they affectionately called it though having eavesdropped on their conversation it was really just their time to talk about cheesy romance novels.

He was more than happy to leave them to it.

Moving back to their training though, the trips had been more than helpful in rounding out Sakura's skills. While they still hadn't found her a set style she had taken to mixing and matching moves she found useful into her own makeshift fighting style which was shaping up to be quite effective. It still had some holes but their training was giving the girl valuable knowledge on how to respond to unexpected and unorthodox attack patterns.

True to his word he'd also helped her find out her element affinity...

_***Flashback***_

_"So I just push chakra into this piece of paper and I'll find out what element I'm best suited to?" She asked while inspecting the tiny slip of off white paper held gently between her fingers._

_"Pretty much, the paper will respond in one of five ways given whatever element you get and if it reacts more than one way you have an affinity towards or more depending on the reaction." He clarified, "Whichever shows up first will be your more dominant element, however."_

_"So is that why you use mostly water jutsu?" She assumed his primary affinity must have been water given those were the only jutsu she'd ever seen him use in combat._

_He shook his head, "No, water is actually my secondary affinity I'm actually more suited towards wind jutsu." He explained, "Up until recently I just didn't have any techniques for it since wind is somewhat rare and the library doesn't have much on it, at least for genin anyway." _

_She nodded and turned her attention back to the paper, "Any guess on what I might have?" She asked somewhat anxious to know what her own elemental affinity might be._

_"Hmmm..." He rubbed his chin, "It's hard to say since there isn't any specific way to tell... I'd guess fire since its common for our region and you don't have any bloodlines that we're aware of." He guessed going with the safest best._

_"Fire huh..." She would be okay with that outcome though Satuski would probably scowl a bit if she ever started throwing around fireballs too, "Well let's not waste more time." She took a deep breath and pushed some of her chakras into the tiny square lighting it up slightly._

_For a moment the paper did nothing before it finally reacted and..._

_The thin slice of paper crumbled like a pile of stacked dirt and the two were hit with a faint earthy smell like freshly tilled soil._

_"Congrats Sakura you are the proud owner of an earth affinity and a fairly respectable one given the smell." He said while the girl stared at the remaining pieces of paper in her hand._

_"Is that good?"_

_He shrugged, "That's up to you I guess, earth isn't a super offensive element but it's amazing at defense which might actually be better suited for you in the long run, plus you can still use other offensive techniques from the other elements so it's not really going to hold you back." He explained._

_Now that they knew what to look for they could finally cover her most glaring weakness._

_**-Flashback end-**_

Of course, just like water jutsu there were also plenty of earth style techniques to choose from, so he'd allowed Sakura to pick whatever she pleased since it was still on her to decide what she wanted to be. He wasn't sure what she'd picked out but he was confident he'd see them eventually.

"How much progress have you made with those new techniques?" He asked curiously.

She frowned slightly at the question but answered regardless, "I've gotten one down and it's pretty much ready for combat use but the other one I'm struggling with." She admitted, "I think my reserves are still a bit too small to make full use of it, I'm trying to add more chakra intensive exercises to my routine to help but its slow going." She admitted.

He nodded in understanding, she still had the lowest reserves between the three of them and even with her control, she'd still struggle to make the most of any jutsu if she couldn't meet its requirements.

"You'll get there I'm sure just need a bit more time." He assured standing up and dusting himself off, "Now I think we've had a long enough break so we're gonna work on your defense." He couldn't help but bark with laughter at the resigned look she made even as she fell into her own stance.

She would thank him later even if she cursing him now.

* * *

Having finished up his session with Sakura he took a moment to reflect on his own training.

His fight with Haku had been his first _real _loss since becoming a genin, not to say he held a grudge against the girl but it was a bit disheartening to see that even at his best and with help that there were still people way stronger than he was that were only a few years older than himself.

So naturally, he had immediately set to work rearranging his training schedule to combat the biggest problems he had faced during their fight. Specifically, in regards to his speed and reaction time, strength didn't matter if you couldn't hit your target and all the jutsu in the world meant very little if your opponent could just outrun them.

He had already gone and added sprinting to his daily routine timing his own natural speed and chakra enhanced speed though he was looking for something more immediate to make use of.

He, of course, had tried simply channeling more chakra to his legs but that had given mixed results, while yes he did see some improvement the problem was the amount of chakra he needed to use wasn't really viable for longer fights and could be copied and applied by any opponent with even a passing understanding of how to channel chakra.

Even with that failure, he knew his answer existed within some form of Chakra usage and so he'd fallen back into an old habit and did some extra research, specifically scouring through older and newer bingo books for noteworthy speed based shinobi now that he had access to them.

Naturally, the easiest one to find was none other than the Fourth Hokage who still seemed to hold the title for the fastest shinobi to have ever lived, but as much as it hurt to admit the information on the Fourth was useless to him.

_The Hiraishin_ or_ Flying Thunder God technique_ wasn't elemental in nature despite its name and instead appeared to be some kind of hybrid between ninjutsu and fuinjutsu. To this day, the jutsu has never been recreated by anyone and so he doubted he'd be able to do it, not even getting into the fact that barring storage seals and explosive tags he had no experience with sealing arts. Without a proper teacher or at the very least a sufficient source of knowledge on sealing any ideas of understanding and recreating the famed teleportation technique was a pipe dream at best.

The next candidates, however, had proven a bit more attainable, if only because he had a better understanding of ninjutsu compared to seals.

The Third and Fourth Raikage were well known for a few things such as their temper, ferocity, strength, and size. They were also known for their mastery of lighting release and in particular their "_Lightning Armor_" technique that offered them not only some protection from physical attacks but also insane levels of speed being placed just under the Hiraishin.

Naturally, he didn't possess a lightning affinity but the idea of creating his own variant with his wind affinity did sound promising and while it might not be as fast as lightning he didn't doubt it would still be up there in terms of speed. Of course, the glaring issue with that route was his own lack of knowledge in regards to wind-based ninjutsu and the affinity as a whole. Right now the most he could pull of was a rather strong wind tunnel, which while helpful was not exactly useful in terms of creating his own sort of wind armor.

So those plans were currently shelved, he did want to come back to the idea later though when he had a better understanding of wind nature chakra.

The last result of his search actually seemed to be the most promising option and that was none other than an Uchiha by the name of Shisui. He was sure Satuski would get a kick out of him using her clan for inspiration.

Or she'd actually kick him, maybe even both...

Either way, Shisui was held in high regard for his use of a rather common technique known as the "_Body Flicker_" and earned his title of_ Shunshin no Shisui_ for his mastery of the movement ability. The jutsu was actually a D-rank supplementary jutsu that was reminiscent of chakra enhancement times two. It was actually used by almost anyone chunin level or higher but few bothered to use the jutsu in battles for a few reasons.

The most glaring of which was how disorienting the technique was to use in rapid succession since the body was generally unaccustomed to moving at such speed regularly. This made seeing exactly where you were going a challenge and in the middle of battle, it left you open as you tried to readjust to the sudden motion.

He imagined that Shisui's sharingan helped reduce if not completely negate this problem given the enhanced visual prowess of the dojutsu making it well suited for him.

Even with that glaring flaw and a few other minor problems, it was still the quickest and most efficient route to giving himself a needed speed boost without months of training. That wasn't to say he wouldn't train but he never knew when he'd face his next major opponent and he refused to lose again for the same reasons.

Getting a hold of the jutsu had actually been rather simple given its low rank and performing it was even easier since it took only a single hand sign to use which only added to its viability in his mind. However, he had sorely underestimated just how bad it would be trying to perform the technique more than three times consecutively. He'd nearly vomited on the first flicker and nearly collapsed by the end of the third having needed to sit still for about five minutes to get his bearings again.

This hadn't been discouraged him though and he simply decided that the key to making the technique viable was just to adapt his body to using the jutsu and so he'd taken to using the body flicker constantly with small intervals between jumps as to not collapse again. He could still only really go in one direction at a time but he was making progress and the time between jumps was getting slightly smaller.

He was also doing what he affectionately referred to as 'nausea training' where he had his clones perform the jutsu until they physically could not stand then forcing them to dispel leaving him with a fraction of their discomfort to slowly acclimate his body and reduce its effects.

It wasn't a pretty process but it was working and that's what mattered in the end.

_It didn't make his stomach feel any better though..._

* * *

"Good Morning my cute little genin, I hope you all enjoyed your time off." Kakashi eye smiled as he strolled into the clearing looking over the assembled trio with a measure of fondness.

Sakura deadpanned at their silver-haired instructors greeting "Its noon Sensei..." She corrected though Kakashi didn't even appear to be phased by the knowledge.

"Is it?" He scratched his head in an approximation of confusion that all three knew was fake, "My bad, good afternoon then!" He chirped causing the trio to roll their eyes and offer halfhearted greetings in return the three already used to the tardy man's antics.

Kakashi clapped and leaned against one of the training poles, "So I'm sure you are all itching to go back on missions..." He paused to look them over for a moment before continuing, "However, we won't be doing that today instead I'm going to be testing you three." He finished earning him three looks of surprise and curiosity.

Satsuki frowned and leaned forward, "Testing us how exactly?" Kakashi wasn't the type of teacher for pop quizzes or anything so this was news to the trio.

"A simple combat test to see where you are now compared to where you were a few months ago, you all did well to hold your own in Wave but I'd like to avoid putting you three in that situation again." He said seriously, "Based on the results of this test I will be assisting you in your weakest areas and bolstering your strengths."

There was another reason for this but they didn't need to worry about that now, better to have them focused on the present rather than looking too far into the future.

Naruto for his part was excited by the prospect of getting more hands-on training and was eager to begin, "So how are we doing this Sensei?" He asked.

Kakashi pushed off the log he was leaning against and walked out into the training field, "You will each fight me in a set of one on one matches so I can judge just where you are, don't hold back otherwise this test will be useless." He stressed, "I know you all can work as a team but I need to see your limits as individuals."

He turned to them with a gentle smile, "Now which one of you wants to go first?" He questioned allowing them to decide amongst themselves.

The trio turned to face one another silently and shifted their gaze between each other as though silently communicating before finally, Satsuki stepped forward and made her way opposite of their instructor.

"Satsuki... I suppose that's not too surprising, hoping to show off a little bit?" Kakashi asked watching as the young heiress slid into her clans usual Interceptor stance.

The Uchiha just smirked, "They already know I'm the best so there is no need, I just want to get this out of the way." She declared and off to the side Naruto and Sakura just rolled their eyes at their teammate's usual confidence but neither took it to heart anymore knowing it was more habit than anything else.

He chuckled slightly, "I suppose we'll find out how true that is." He said falling into his own stance, showing the girl that he would be taking this fight seriously.

Well somewhat seriously anyway.

Satsuki narrowed her eyes as seconds passed with no move from Kakashi and part of her was annoyed at her own hesitance to go on the offensive against a superior opponent but it didn't look like she had a choice.

She quickly sprung into action charging forward and drawing two kunai in hand she closed the distance between them and opened with a series of quick slashes and stabs using her smaller size for lower blows hoping to disrupt his balance and give her an opening.

Kakashi's experience let him see right through the tactic and he pushed back without mercy capitalizing on his longer reach to rain blows down upon her that swiftly put Satsuki on the defensive. Her kunai did manage to slow his assault slightly as the copy-nin reasonably tried to avoid being stabbed but they did little to stop her being abruptly launched across the field as a leg swept right into her unguarded side.

She managed to right herself just in time to avoid crashing into the earth but she was immediately had to play defense once again when Kakashi vanished and appeared before her fist raised to deliver his own offensive onslaught.

Black eyes shifted into a vibrant red and time seemed to slow slightly for her, Kakashi's speeding fist seemingly beginning to slow mid-flight and with a grunt of effort she managed to catch the offending fist before it could land. She then quickly used their close proximity to go for a stab to his side which sailed just past as the Copy-nin twisted his body around and used her grip to pull and throw her overhead sending the Uchiha flying into the air.

Undaunted Satuski managed to pivot her body mid-flight and ran through a set of seals her chest swelling up before she released her technique.

_**"Fire Style: Phoenix Fire no Jutsu!"**_

The field practically came alive with an orange hue as streaks of fire rained down from her position blanketing the ground and creating small scorch marks upon the earth. She did her best to angle the technique towards the Copy-nin pushing him back and creating some much-needed space for herself to land safely.

She hit the ground in a roll and smirked as her gaze swept over the patches of scorched earth but none the less kept on her guard, she knew full well it would take more than that to put the jounin down.

_**"Water Style: Raging Waves!"**_

She was however completely unprepared for a literal torrent of water to sweep over the field drowning out her fires in seconds, her sharingan slowing the incoming wave down just enough for her to react just barely managing to leap back far enough out of the way before she could be swept up by the current.

She wasn't given any more time to think when he appeared before her, his leg raised to deliver a swift downward kick that she narrowly managed to avoid before having to block a vicious punch aimed at her face.

She frowned internally as her eyes tried to predict the next incoming attack but her own inexperience and her eyes only being partially developed made getting a read on the silver-haired ninja difficult. Half of his attacks were feints that she failed to predict and what attacks she could successfully make out were almost too fast for her to see.

Kakashi watched his student struggle impassively, he was well aware of the weakness to the Sharingan and how to counter it to some extent. Unlike the rumors, the Uchiha clan had been so happy to endorse the Shairgan didn't actually give the user the ability to see into the future to predict attacks. In actuality, the dojutsu allowed its user to see the tiniest movements and so with skill and experience an Uchiha could very reliable anticipate and react to incoming attacks with almost pinpoint accuracy.

Unfortunate for her he had enough control to prevent telegraphing his next move and more than enough speed to outpace her eyes. It didn't help that she still had one level to go before the eye's abilities would manifest in their strongest form.

_He would be able to help with that in the meantime._

"_Gah!_" Satsuki doubled over as she was sent harshly into a nearby tree, her back colliding with the hardwood with a solid thump that left her reeling. Before she could gain her bearings, she found herself swiftly tied to the trunk by rows of gleaming wire.

She grunted and struggled slightly but winced at the sensation of the thin sturdy wires digging into her flesh, not enough to break the skin but just enough to make her uncomfortable and make it clear that she wasn't getting out of this.

She'd lost...

"Guess this is my win Satsuki." Kakashi said squatting next to the trapped Uchiha, "You did well through very impressive." He praised reaching over and ruffling her raven locks causing their heiress to scowl at the gesture even with the praise.

"Just untie me." She growled her tomoe spinning threateningly in her eyes in response to her emotions making for an eerie sight, though Kakashi found it more adorable than intimidating but he kept those thoughts to himself and released the girl with a flick of his wrist causing the wires to slack.

"I see you've trained your new eyes." He commented lowly having caught the second tomoe in her left eye, her response time had also gone up slightly and she didn't show any signs of struggling with the slower perception granted by the dojutsu.

She scoffed, "Naturally." Her eyes were her greatest pride, the truest link to her clan and her blood, once she gained her third tomoe she would be one step closer to her goals.

She frowned when he flicked her forehead giving her a stern look, "It's good you gained them but don't become reliant on them." He warned having met many Uchiha during his service who had used their famed eyes as a crutch thinking themselves untouchable so long as they were active.

Very few of them lasted very long.

She clicked her teeth but nodded and the two made their way back.

"Alright, so who wants to go next?" He asked and to his and Satsuki's surprise, Sakura actually stepped forward. Immediately he noticed there was less hesitation in her movements and she seemed much more confident than she'd been in any of their earlier sessions.

He was curious to see if that confidence was at all warranted.

Satsuki stared hard at the pinkette making her way onto the field, she was aware that the girl had been training with her rival but she hadn't expected much to come of it if she was honest. Sakura was a kunoichi with a civilian mindset, a walking casualty waiting to happen.

Looking at her now though... there was something a bit different about her.

Naruto grinned wildly, "Go Sakura! You can beat that scarecrow!" He shouted knowing that Sakura often did better when she felt she had some measure of support.

For her part, Sakura flushed at his cheering and shushed him with an annoyed glare but she was quietly thankful for his words and turned back to face her Sensei who watched with amusement and slightly melancholic nostalgia of his own time as a genin.

_"You can do it Rin! Show him what you're made of!" A loud black-haired youth shouted, pumping his fist into the air, a wide toothy grin spread wide upon his face._

He shook himself from his thoughts and focused on the task at hand. It wouldn't do for him to get distracted now.

"Are you ready, Sakura?" He asked giving the pinkette a moment to settle her nerves.

She nodded and fell into her own stance, one that he'd never seen her use before further feeding his curiosity on just what she'd learned while he wasn't looking.

He decided to start on the offensive and rushed her and to his pride she didn't so much as flinch but rather held her ground, green eyes narrowing at his approach and her body tensed in preparation.

He lashed out with a kick that she dodged with ease, ducking under the offending limb before pushing herself forward fist outstretched towards his stomach. He grabbed the fist and held her tight intending to shatter her defensive but rather than panic she instead threw herself forward!

Curling her body Sakura grinned when her feet planted firmly against Kakashi's chest, her knees bending as she used his body to stop her moment before she grunted and pushed off using the man like a platform. Sending chakra to her legs she increased the force of her launch sending her flying back and pushing Kakashi away with the unexpected maneuver.

Kakashi frowned beneath his mask as he was sent sliding back, his vest thankfully having taken most of the impact but the force of her leap still stung slightly. Still, he was impressed by the maneuver and her improvisation.

He would see if she could keep that up.

Rather than rush her again he waved his hands through another set of seals, she seemed comfortable at close range then how would she fair with something a bit further away.

_**"Water Style: Water Bullet no Jutsu!"**_

Emerald eyes narrowed and she quickly went through her own set of seals before slamming her hands down against the ground weaving her gathered chakra into the soil below.

_**"Earth Style: Towering Barricade!"**_

Just before the blast of pressurized water could send her flying a wall of stone and dirt sprung up from the ground surrounding the pinkette in a half-dome just barely taller than she herself was. She grit her teeth as loose chunks of rock and dirt crumbled around her while the blast of water slammed mercilessly into her defense but she couldn't help but smile seeing the wall holding.

Granted it was supposed to be much taller and much more sturdy but she would gladly take some progress over no progress!

Kakashi for his part was starting to feel a bit numb to the sense of surprise, had his team really grown this much on their own? Was he that out of touch with their capabilities? He didn't have much time to lament much on those thoughts as Sakura sprung back into action quickly leaping over her self made cover and rushing towards him with kunai in hand forcing him to draw his own kunai to defend against her flurry of attacks.

Despite her vigor, he could see she was beginning to slow down and her breathing while not too erratic was not as steady as it had once been. It seemed she still suffered from endurance issues and no doubt that jutsu had been taxing on her reserves. Still, he couldn't deny that'd she far surpassed his expectations.

Leaning back to dodge a strike to his neck he casually broke her guard with a leg sweep and without hesitation pinned the girl, his knee resting along her back while he held her arms with his hand.

Sakura struggled for a few moments before slumping and acknowledging her loss, "You win again, Sensei." She groaned dusting off her dress while he helped her to her feet.

"Of course I did but you made me work a bit for it and that's still commendable." He praised with a slight eye smile and just like before he playfully ruffled the girl's pink locks earning a small pout from her at the gesture but otherwise she offered no resistance as the two made their way back over.

Naruto smiled and gave her a thumbs-up, "You were great Sakura-chan! I thought for sure you had him with that opening!"

Sakura huffed puffing her cheeks up at his words, "You don't need to exaggerate..." She then grinned and lightly punched him on the arm giggling quietly at his dramatic wail of abuse, "But thanks." She finished acknowledging that it was only with his help that she had done as well as she did.

"You did all the hard work so no worries." He waved her off, "Ne, Princess don't you think she did well?" He said in a sly tone elbowing the Uchiha in the side who merely rolled her eyes and shoved him away from her with a scowl.

"Idiot..." She then turned to face her other teammate who seemed to shuffle nervously under her gaze and She admitted she felt a small pang of guilt knowing that in her own naive way the girl looked up to her as an example even if that respect wasn't always shared both ways.

"You've gotten better..." She spoke offering her teammate a simple nod of her head, "I guess you aren't as useless as I thought so keep it up." She finished trying her hardest not to scowl at the bright expression on the girls face or the cheeky grin her rival was sending her way.

She could be nice... sometimes...

She clicked her teeth and looked away, her cheeks growing a bit warm while the duo beside her laughed quietly at her slightly flustered expression. Even Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle seeing the three that had once been so hostile taking a moment to bond, it was a nice change of pace from the stress and pressure that had weighed on them during Wave.

"Alright that's enough for now, Naruto you're up last." Kakashi called earning a loud whoop from the blond who quickly made his way over to his side of the field.

Sakura and Satsuki shifted giving the duo their complete attention, both had come to the slightly uncomfortable realization that they didn't really know how strong the blond actually was, he was always pulling something new out of thin air and his talent for battle strategy seemed second to none. He was strong that wasn't up for debate but just where did that strength end?

Kakashi watched the boy before him with caution, of his three students Naruto was without question the most versatile and dangerous when compared to the others. He was unorthodox and his way of fighting was almost entirely unique to him with his access to clones, elemental jutsu, and his ability to adapt. It was only his good-hearted and honorable nature that prevented him from being more lethal than his peers.

"Ready when you are Sensei!"

He nodded and the two couched low falling unconsciously into their respective stances and faced each other down blue eyes boring into black while the trees around them swayed in the wind...

Naruto moved quickly launching a hail of shuriken at the Copy-nin who responded by tossing his own round of stars perfectly canceling out the deadly storm of steel headed his way. He clicked his teeth and charged forward blurring forward towards the jounin who merely waited for the blond with narrowed eyes.

He was upon the one-eyed shinobi in seconds his fist aimed squarely for his opponent's jaw, using the moment of his rush he tried to increase the power of his strike. Kakashi merely tilted his head allowing the approaching fist to sail past before launching a retaliatory knee strike at his torso which he managed to block with his off-hand but the force managed to push him back a bit.

He grunted when a leg slammed into his guard but a swift application of chakra to his feet kept him from flying off. Thinking fast he grabbed the offending leg and pulled hard, disrupting Kakashi's balance and leaving him open.

Kakashi, however, hadn't survived as long as he had for no reason and without missing a beat he planted his hands upon the ground and applied the same trick to prevent himself being tossed. Naruto grit his teeth as he found himself being ripped from the ground as Kakashi used his greater strength to counter his grip and essentially kicked him into the air mid flip.

Knowing he was open in the air he quickly summoned a clone that managed to pull him out of his original flight path and gave him sight of his target once more, Kakashi was already closing the distance and would be on him the moment he landed.

He needed space and he knew just how to make it, summoning his chakra he quickly molded the energy within storing it in his chest before directing his gaze at the ground beneath him.

_**"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**_

Rather than use the jutsu offensively he fired the pressurized gust of wind towards the ground instead, the backlash of using it so close to the surface blasting him back into the air even higher than he'd been before and leaving him far out of taijutsu range.

Looking down at his Sensei he grinned and without missing a beat summoned six more clones each careening through the air with their creator and more importantly each with their hands flashing through seals with practiced ease, their mouths parted in preparation.

Kakashi's single eye widened immediately seeing the blond's plan.

_**"Collaboration Technique: Flash Flood!"**_

Six pressurized jets of water poured down from the air-born blonds that swiftly combined into one raging stream that slammed into the earth like a tidal wave determined to wash away everything in its path. On the sidelines, Sakura and Satsuki had to quickly hop onto one of the nearby trees to avoid being swept away in the current.

Touching down he scanned the rapidly draining cleaning for any sign of Kakashi, his own technique having unintentionally left him unaware of his opponent's movements with his sight blocked by the shower of water kicked back up by the impact.

"Below you."

His eyes widened when two hands wrapped tightly around his ankles and he barely had time to utter a word before his body was dragged under the earth with only his head sticking out. Before him, Kakashi appeared casually dragging himself out of the ground before squatting down to his level with amusement at his predicament.

"Looks like I'm two for two when it comes to catching genin." He joked looking over his captured student, "If I get Sakura that'll put me at three for three."

Rather than blow up Naruto merely grinned and that was the only warning he had before he was forced to block a strike to his left, a blur streaking by him faster than he could fully track. It was only his experience that kept that hit from landing.

The blond before him disappeared in a puff of smoke revealing itself to be just another copy of the blond sent out as a sacrifice, Kakashi had never hated a jutsu as much as he was coming to hate this one.

He didn't have time to think much on it before he was forced to guard once again as the blond whizzed by him appearing only briefly before he seemed to phase right out of sight. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, how had he managed to increase his speed to such a level so quickly?

Feeling his instincts screaming at him to duck he promptly crouched down just in time to avoid a kick to his head his silver hair waving slightly in the gust created by the speeding blond. He caught sight of the blond as he reappeared and he caught sight of the blond's left hand locked into the tiger seal.

_Shunshin?!_

Suddenly the speed boost made much more sense and now that he knew how his student was doing it he knew exactly how to counter it.

He just needed to wait.

True enough the blond had paused before charging in for his next strike and he could see the look of growing discomfort on his face and his attacks were growing more desperate despite seeming to have the advantage.

Naruto grunted as he fell to his knees, his stomach practically growling in protest and vision blurring slightly as the cost of his actions came back to bite him. He knew if he tried once more he would collapse on the spot he still wasn't comfortable enough to use the technique more than four times.

Lost in his thoughts he only briefly registered the feeling of cool steel resting against his neck, Kakashi stood nonchalantly over his panting from looking down upon him.

"That was crafty but I think it's best if I end this now before you think about pushing yourself too hard" He commentated, "But I shouldn't be surprised you'd think to try something like this." He chuckled helping his student to his feet and making sure he wasn't going to fall over.

Naruto grinned weakly, "You know me Sensei I can't settle for predictable." He wobbled slightly but managed to make it back to the rest of his team who eyed him with both worry and approval respectively for his performance.

Kakashi eyed the trio critically running over his individual fights with the three and he had to admit that they were much better off than he'd originally expected. With some refinement, they would be more than ready to handle anything they would need for the next step in their careers.

He supposed that where he came in.

He clapped quickly shifting their attention back to him, "Alright you three I think I have a pretty solid idea of where you stand. With that said he is the plan for the next few weeks."

"You will arrive here at our usual time where we will run three missions a day, down from our usual five. Afterward, I will be working with you each one on one to help you polish up your existing skills and if needed assist you in branching out." He said internally laughing at their looks of excitement at finally getting the training they'd be waiting for.

_It was such a shame they were going to hate him by the end of it~_

* * *

_**AN. Chapter Complete! **_

_**So without wasting any time, let's get into the explanations!**_

_**I believe I mentioned before that I wanted to do a brief time skip before the Chunin exam started (If I forgot my bad and well now you know). The reason for that was because in my mind the Chunin Exams is a place for surprises, where everyone is showing off what they've been working on since they became genin and displaying their improvements. **_

_**Since Wave was so recently timeline-wise I didn't want to just jump into the Chunin Exams with the characters not really having grown at all so the gap will allow for them to not only surprise one another but you all as well!**_

_**This chapter acted as both the setup and a hint at what the next level of strength is for our characters. Of course, everyone will be undergoing their own growth so there will be plenty of surprises I think.**_

_**Sakura, as you can see, is getting some general buffs to everything to make her overall a more solid character. I can tell you right now she won't be as strong as her teammates given that they have been training hard their whole lives but she will be in a much better place than she ever really was in part one. Her earth affinity completes the elements they'll have access to and will lean into her fighting as we go along.**_

_**Satsuki didn't get a ton of hints other than new jutsu and her Sharingan advancing slightly. She is actually in a pretty good place right now so I didn't want to give her too much but she will see some improvement as well that will be revealed when she gets to fight again next.**_

_**Naruto, of course, is currently focused on his speed and making better use of the jutsu he has at his disposal that will also show up in his future battles. I also want to be very clear that he will not be turning into Shisui or anything but is rather just taking inspiration from him at the moment, he will do some creative things with the Shunshin but it would be better to think of it as a placeholder technique until we get further into the story.**_

_**Speaking of the Shunshin technique, before anyone writes me a long essay about how exactly the jutsu works I am very much aware already. The changes I make are done in the name of better progression and keeping stronger abilities in check to avoid creating a power imbalance!**_

_**Last up as always is the harem info:**_

_**So for one with the Chunin Exam Arc we are going to finally meet Gaara which I'm sure many of you are excited for, I hope as always that you'll come to enjoy her character and that her inclusion proves beneficial to the story overall.**_

_**Onto more mixed news, this arc is also the earliest opportunity to introduce the other harem member who's fate has been somewhat in limbo since we finished Wave. That, of course, is Tayuya.**_

_**Have I come to a decision?**_

_**Nope.**_

_**I actually hate myself for this but I'm very torn! I am currently LEANING TOWARDS taking her out though. NOT GUARANTEED SO DUN YELL AT ME.**_

_**My reasoning being that introducing them both her and Gaara at the same time feels very rushed and I don't want to diminish the impact either of them by forcing them to share space. If Tayuya is removed then Gaara gets to be introduced and the harem closes allowing me to focus strictly on actually putting the harem into the story and granting people the romantic fluff they've been waiting for.**_

_**And maybe satisfying the perverts who have also been waiting. (You know who you are, you fiends! lol)**_

_**It's also a matter of keeping the characters realistic and the more I think of it the more worried I am about screwing up her character for the sake of the harem which I have strived not to do with any of the girls and have for the most part been successful at I feel.**_

_**Anyway, the choice probably won't be made until the preliminaries are over but I wanted to keep you all up to date with my thinking. Be aware before you rush to tell me how much you love and want her in, that I know you all like her and that's not the reasoning it's more about what would be better to write in the long run.**_

_**Soooo, that's where I am currently as always you can PM me questions or concerns (keep it respectful as always) and of course, I will try and answer all that I can so if you leave a review with a concern, be sure to check your inbox on the chance I reply!**_

_**Thank you all for reading and I can't wait to get started with the next major phase of the story!**_


	24. Chapter 24

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing but enjoy none the less.**_

**It has been quite a while huh, I am sorry about that and I will address it at the bottom of this chapter. I do encourage you to read it if you've been a long time follower of the story but ultimately it's up to you.**

**Please stop by my page and vote on the poll if you're interested! More details will be at the bottom in the AN!**

**Anyway I hope you enjoy this extremely long chapter**

* * *

_**...Two Months Later...**_

_**...**_

"Well as much as it pains me to say it... you three are at least passable now." Kakashi sighed with faux reluctance while looking over the panting and prone forms of his students desperately trying to catch their breaths. "At least you've stopped throwing up at the end of our sessions so that's something to proud of if nothing else." He smiled

"I thought... we were... good before?" Naruto groaned pushing himself up with trembling arms. Even after all this time, Kakashi could still put them through the wringer like nothing else.

"You three were good considering you were all pretty much self-taught." He corrected happily. "Now that you've been trained somewhat I think it would be better to say you are passable." He said casually standing over them while they struggled.

Naturally, he was more than content to ignore the heated glares being sent his way burying his nose in his favorite book to cover a slight smirk at their annoyance. Internally though, he was actually very proud of the progress each of them had made during such a short period, they were far from perfect but they were on the right path and he firmly believed they would each go on to do great things.

But for now, he would just enjoy keeping them humble~

He clapped, "Alright you three training is over but before you go I have something to discuss with you all." He spoke sternly letting them know it was time to focus up. "There is an actual reason I've been pushing you three so hard these past two months." He started catching their attention, they did find it strange he'd suddenly began to push them so hard.

The trio looked at him silently each curious as to just what had spurred their normally lazy sensei into action.

"In a weeks time, our village will be hosting this year's Chunin Exams... as the name implies its a testing ground for a villages genin to prove they have what it takes to rise in rank and responsibility." He explained and already he could see his team putting the pieces together. He pulled out three forms and handed them over to the trio who took them anxiously. "I think it's clear you lot wouldn't want to miss this opportunity so I took the liberty of collecting all the necessary paperwork for you. If you plan on entering simply follow the instructions listed and you'll be set to take the exams."

"You have a week to make your choice so you have plenty of time to think about if you feel ready or not." He explained though he already was already sure of their answer.

After all that had been part of his mission.

_***Flashback***_

_"Are you serious? Pardon any disrespect Hokage-sama but you wish to enter all the rookies into this year's exam?" Kurenai asked frowning at the idea of rushing her students headlong into such an extreme scenario._

_Asuma quietly clicked his teeth and stared at his father who watched his assembled jounin whisper and mutter amongst themselves at the unorthodox command for a few moments before holding his hand up, instantly silencing the room._

_The Third spoke softly but there was a power in his aged voice that reminded them just exactly who ran the village and why. "I understand your concerns and if there was an alternative I would have presented it before..." He paused, taking a small drag of his pipe before proceeding._

_"However, this generation is special being comprised of the heirs of nearly every major clan in our village... whether they know it or not they represent the overall strength of our village going forward and so we must show that Konoha is thriving. Both to our allies as well as our enemies." He intoned seriously._

_"They haven't even been on active duty for a full year, Sir." Asuma frowned. "We could use those in the reserves to accomplish the same goal." He argued. He believed in his team but even he felt it was too early to be pushing them like this._

_"Maybe so... but those in the reserves lack the influence of this generation, names have power Asuma do not forget that." The Third admonished turning his eyes to his son. "The village needs a good showing after the damage we've suffered following both the Kyuubi attack and the Uchiha Massacre. Letting the upcoming leaders take the stage now gives those who would oppose us pause for thought."_

_"That's a heavy burden to make them carry on their own..." Kurenai replied still not quite content with such an order even if now out of her hands._

_The Third nodded. "It is unfortunate... but you are wrong to say they must carry it on their own. You all are here to prepare them for their future trials. You wouldn't be teachers if I did not believe you held the capability to guide them." He corrected giving each of the assembled jounin a confident glance. "As your teachers did for you, you in turn shall help them make their way in the world."_

_The Third turned in his chair looking outward towards the village with aged but determined eyes, reminding himself why he fought on even now in his old age._

_"You have two months to prepare them as best you can, do not disappoint." He spoke with a tone of finality, closing all further discussion and signaling to the assembled jounin to begin filtering out of his office. _

_Kakashi watched impassibly for a few moments before he too quietly shuffled out leaving the aged Kage alone in his office._

_He had his orders._

_***Flashback end***_

He had done his part now it was just up to them to take the next step.

"You guys have the next week off to relax but don't take it too easy now." He waved and within moments he was gone the only sign of his presence were a few fluttering leaves that floated gently to the ground before being blown away in the open breeze.

Naruto smirked as he looked over the form his thoughts already moving towards the future. He honestly hadn't been expecting the opportunity to advance this early but he wasn't one to back down from a challenge and the idea of facing the best shinobi from other villages really got his blood pumping.

"We have to enter this!" He grinned, turning to his two teammates. "There is no way we can miss it!" The chance to not only advance in rank but also find out where he stood compared to ninja from all over the world was just too tempting to back out of.

Sakura chuckled at his excitement and Satsuki merely scoffed though she had the makings of an eager smirk on her face showing that she was just as excited by the opportunity as he was.

"That's obvious Idiot, naturally we are going to enter you don't need to tell us." She snarked but there was no bite to her words, rather she approved of the enthusiasm she would have been disappointed if they'd said otherwise. This would be the ideal opportunity to see how far she'd come and how far she'd need to go to reach her goals and if she did well she'd surely do her clan proud.

Sakura smiled and nodded along with her teammates, their energy proving infectious enough that even she wasn't immune to the welling feelings of excitement. Plus she couldn't deny that a small part of her wanted to show off her own growth as well and really make her mark... maybe they'd rubbed off on her more than she'd realized.

_Whatever came from this new challenge they would face it together!_

* * *

"Haku-chan I'm home!" He hollered kicking his shoes off at the door and placing his stuff down.

"Welcome back Naruto-sama!" Haku greeted making her out of the small kitchen garbed in a slightly dirty apron and into the living to greet him. "I just finished preparing lunch for your arrival." She chirped happily.

He smiled but gave her a pout. "You know you don't have to do that Haku-chan." Whenever she didn't have to go out she would often prepare him something for when he came home from training as a means of thanking him for his hospitality. He told her repeatedly that she didn't have to but she always insisted and there wasn't really much he could do to stop her.

_"I refuse to be a burden to you Naruto-sama so please allow me to do this." She said happily as she prepared them dinner._

He had fought against it for about a week before he'd finally given in and just allowed her to do a pleased since she seemed determined to make herself useful. It also might have helped that he quietly enjoyed coming home to someone who was genuinely happy to see him but he would never say that out loud to her. She teased him enough as is without him adding to it.

"It is my pleasure Naruto-sama~" She smiled before frowning as the smell of sweat and grime assaulted her nose and she gave him a stern look. "But you need a bath first." She ordered causing him to sulk at having to wait.

"But Hakuuu..." He whined trying to slip past her and into the kitchen to no avail as she grabbed hold of his collar and walked him off to the tiny bathroom the two shared.

"Not buts, wash first and then you can eat." She chided completely ignoring his whining in favor of grabbing a nearby towel and tossing it into his arms. "Now go." She demanded.

She had to fight down the urge to laugh at his defeated expression, quiet grumbling and muttered curses accompanying his resigned walk of shame into the washroom. She then quickly set to work cleaning the rest of the kitchen, making note of anything she would need to replace on her next trip out.

It was the least she could do for her master after all~

...

"So you plan to enter the Chunin Exams..." She paused in her meal for a moment before she continued. "Do you believe you are ready for such a thing?" She asked taking a small bite of the lunch she'd prepared for them. She'd only heard of these exams from what little Zabuza had told her but then again she also recognized that her previous master's perspective on things may have been a bit... skewed, to say nothing else.

She very much doubted a village like Konoha wished to showcase children being ripped apart in front of future clientele. They had a reputation of being the most peaceful of the major villages, though in the shinobi world "peaceful" was still a relative term.

"I'm pretty confident that we can handle it." He answered, quickly popping a bit of shrimp into his mouth inwardly savoring the flavor of her cooking. "With all of our training I don't think we'll have too hard a time, but then again I don't know what kind of tests we'll face." He admitted giving his honest thoughts.

Kakashi hadn't really told them much and the form revealed nothing about the actual test itself so for all he knew their training might not actually influence their success at all. Then again Kakashi had trained them _specifically _to take it, so he assumed there would be a lot of combat involved otherwise all their training would have been for nothing.

"How do you think you're teammates will fair?" She asked a bit curious as to how much the three had really improved. She wasn't currently allowed to visit the training yards unsupervised so she only had vague ideas of their abilities based on what little he had told her.

"I think they'll be able to manage, Sakura-chan is way stronger than she was before and she can be downright scary with some of her battle plans and Princess has only gotten better with her super pink eye activated so I'm not all that worried about her either." He said causing her to choke slightly on her food in laughter.

She quickly reigned herself in trying not to snort at her master's phrasing for one of the most powerful and feared bloodlines in the world. "Do you call it that to her face?" She asked curiously.

He grinned. "Of course I do!" He said proudly remembering the expression of fury on the Uchiha heiresses face the first time he'd said it aloud during one of their spars. She'd kicked his ass that day but it had been so worth it.

She chuckled, "I wish you had gotten a picture I would have enjoyed seeing her reaction."

"You are both are terrible... but I can't blame you it's pretty funny." He laughed.

He wasn't sure why the two females didn't seem to get along if he was honest. Barring their fight on the bridge, Haku hadn't done much else to the younger girl but the Uchiha always seemed to scowl a bit more than usual in the older females presence. He chalked it up to the heiress not fully being over her loss and Haku's natural desire to tease people causing some friction between the two.

"Regardless, I have the utmost confidence in you." She rested her hand against his shoulder and gave him a bright smile. "I have no doubt you will succeed." She assured breaking him from his thoughts as she imparted some words of confidence towards him.

He couldn't help but be slightly taken aback by her sincerity his own mouth unconsciously stretching into a wide grin, "Of course!" He promised, getting a soft giggle from her in return.

"Enough about me though, how are you?." He asked shifting the conversation towards her own endeavors. "How is your probation going? It's almost over right?" He questioned.

She nodded "Almost, all the paperwork has been completed and according to Uzuki-san I should be all cleared soon enough. I will still need to schedule my placement test to officially join the shinobi forces but I am not truly worried about that." She said knowing that combat wise she'd likely pass with little trouble. Zabuza hadn't worked her down to the bone for nothing after all.

"Hehe, if I pass and become a Chunin maybe you and I can be paired up for missions!" He liked the idea of the two of them running missions together and maybe making a name for themselves along the way while they did.

Haku offered a bemused smile at his fantasizing. "I would be content with such an outcome, getting partnered you with you would be the preferable option, though..." She paused then threw him a saucy smirk. "I wouldn't mind being your superior either though Naruto-sama~" She leaned softly into his side pressing her body closer to his own making him blush slightly at the invasion of his personal space and sensation of her... "softer features", upon his arm.

"Would you enjoy being under my command?..." She purred, her breath tickling his ears and sending blood rushing to his face. "_Na~ru~to-sama_?" She whispered.

"Hakuuuuu!" He whined trying and utterly failing to maintain his composure any further. Nearly falling out of his chair as he tried to create even a modicum of distance from his housemate who was doing her absolute best to keep him rooted to the spot.

"What?" She said innocently wrapping her arms securely around his own. "I just wished to express my eagerness to work with you going forward." She defended as though she had done absolutely nothing wrong.

He could practically feel the pure levels of smug just radiating off of her.

"I can understand that tone!" He accused leveling her with a stink eyed glare that she easily ignored maintaining her facade of purity.

She waved him off barely concealing her laughter. "You are clearly projecting, Naruto-sama~" She giggled, fluttering her eyes innocently and gleefully ignoring his muttered curses.

_Just another day in the Uzumaki household..._

* * *

"Umm... Naruto?"

"Yes, Sakura?" He responded to the pinkette, his nose buried deep into one of the many tiny notebooks he carried with him. "Is there something wrong?" He asked paying only slight attention to the female at his side while he scoured through page after page of notes he'd kept.

Sakura frowned slightly. "Not _wrong _necessarily... but you are aware we are being followed, right?" She glanced back discreetly eyeing a rather large spray-painted box that was shuffling along behind them. It had been following them since they'd left the library almost fifteen minutes ago and showed no signs of ceasing its pursuit.

_Were those eye holes?_

He stopped and sighed before quietly pocketing his notebook. "I noticed, I was just sort of hoping that they would go away if we ignored them long enough..." He turned and glared directly at the supposed "rock" with annoyance. "Konohamaru just come out already."

The box halted in its movement for a few brief moments before an explosion of thick smoke erupted from below the misshapen rock blowing it to pieces and obscuring their vision, however, the pair still easily caught the sounds of coughing and muffled curses cutting through the settling debris of paper and smoke.

"Udon you used too much powder!" A brash but childish voice yelled out through the smokescreen.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Another young voice called out apologetically.

"You guys are awful!" A third, more feminine voice complained coughing heavily among the two others.

Sakura simply stood motionless, unsure what to make of the situation while Naruto just rubbed his temples in annoyance, already he could feel a migraine coming on as the dust began to settle. The smoke finally cleared and where there was once a badly disguised rock now stood three children each covered in a chalky white powder but sporting wide toothy grins despite being caught.

"How did you see past my disguise Boss!" Konohamaru pouted annoyed that he'd been caught despite his masterful disguise. "I was so sure that would fool you!"

"Rocks aren't perfect squares Kono..." He deadpanned looking down at the helmet-wearing youth. Konohamaru was the grandson of the Third and his self-appointed underling/rival for some reason, the kid wanted to get out of his grandfather's shadow but went about it in some funky ways. He wasn't sure how assassinating the old man was going to get him anywhere but a jail cell at best. Either way, he'd taken the kid aside and helped straighten him out a bit but old habits were hard to break and now he was stuck with the brat.

Something the Third happened to find quite amusing given the smirk he always wore when the two happened to be together in his presence.

"Dang it... alright next time I'll do better!" The boy promised, pumping his fist into the air causing the blond to sigh knowing that he should have expected nothing less from the child. Konohamaru was nothing if not determined, something he would have found endearing if the kid wasn't so exhausting...

"Sure you will..." He muttered before looking behind the youth towards the two other children grinning alongside him. "And who are these two?" He asked promoting the group to cheer and strike a series of various poses, a small banner appearing from somewhere behind them for dramatic flair.

"I'm Mogei!" The young girl with twin pigtails smirked offering a playful wink. "The sassiest girl in the academy!" She declared proudly puffing up her chest as she introduced herself. She was a small girl dressed in a mixture of reds, purples, and pinks and had seemingly permanent blush marks upon her cheeks.

Mentally, Sakura was giving the girl credit for announcing such a title to the world so casually though she probably had nothing on Ino who probably would have earned a similar title if her gossiping wasn't more prominent.

Next up was a young dopey looking bespectacled boy, "I'm Udon!" He flashed an easy-going smile that was ruined slightly by a trail of snot dripping from his nose. "I like math!" He introduced crossing his arms in a pose he probably _thought _looked cool but just didn't fit his nerdy appearance.

Naruto just blinked slowly trying to resist the urge to facepalm at the introduction. Who's defining trait was that they liked math?! He then when remembered Shika's defining trait was that she liked to sleep so maybe he was being too harsh on the kid...

Konohamaru finished off his trio's introduction with aplomb, "And I'm Konohamaru! Future Hokage and leader of the Konohamaru Ninja Squad!" He finished holding his arms out at through he was ready to take on the world.

...

"Alright I'll bite, what do you and your little friends want Kono?" He asked really just trying to get this over with. He had errands to run today and preparations to make for the exams so he was going to hurry this along.

Konohamaru grinned and pointed accusingly at the blond, "We've come with a demand Boss! As your underlings, you are obligated to come and play Ninja with us right now!" He proclaimed earning a less than quiet round of snickering from Sakura who watch the blond at her side deflate almost immediately at the demand.

_Seriously?_

"A ninja playing Ninja? At least you haven't lost touch with your inner child I suppose Naruto." She teased promoting him to scowl in her direction. He made a mental note to give her an extra hard time during their next training session for this injustice.

"Oi, Boss!" Konohamaru stole a quick glance at the pinkette accompanying the blond and a somewhat seedy look materialized upon his face, he swiftly leaned in and whispered rather loudly. "Is she your... ya know..." He wiggled his pinky as if to convey some secret meaning that should have been obvious but left the blond utterly confused.

"Kono, I have no idea what the hell that means... speak plainly before I hit you."

"Ya know, is she your girlfriend?" He quickly clarified causing both Naruto and Sakura to choke on their spit, their faces contorting into a mixture of shock and disgust. How the hell had he come to that conclusion?!

"_No/Never!_" They shouted simultaneously completely shutting that idea down.

Konohmaru frowned but nodded. "Oh... well whatever she's not pretty enough to be your girlfriend anyway." He said likely trying to be supportive of his whiskered leader but completely missing the abrupt twitch in the pinkette's eye and the sudden look of anxiety Naruto's face.

"Umm Kono you might want to-" He tried to warn the boy hoping to course correct the kid before he buried himself too deep into the hole Sakura would no doubt put him in.

But Konohamaru seemed determined to persist in his tirade. "I mean her forehead is pretty big, and what kinda hair color is pink anyway? I though shinobi were supposed to be stealthy and..." He paused mid-sentence as a cold shiver ran down his spine and the air around him grew heavy.

Sakura's hair shadowed her eyes but there was an almost evil presence hanging around her that caused nearby bystanders to give the young kunoichi a wide berth and even Naruto stepped back a few steps, his face growing unnaturally pale as he beheld his now enraged female teammate.

"You have five seconds to run as fast as you can." Her voice was calm despite the clear aura of fury hanging around her. "At least that way when I catch you, you can at least say you put up a fight before you died." She intoned dangerously.

"Five..." She took a step forward and Konohamaru scrambled back his team shaking in fear when the ground beneath her seemed to crack and tremble at her movements. "Four..."

"B-Boss help!" The trio cried looking to their self-appointed leader to save them from the incoming incarnation of death.

"S-Sakura-chan maybe you should calm dow-..." He called weakly before Sakura turned to him and he swore he felt the shinigami take hold of his soul for a few moments. "W-What I mean to say was he totally deserves this and have fun! " He finished quickly throwing the three under the bus and leaving them to their fate.

_He liked still being alive thank you very much!_

The trio seemed to quickly catch on that they were on their own and bolted with a shout, not even seconds later Sakura was already on their heels, their screams of terror fading off into the distance, leaving a confused and slightly concerned populous in their wake.

He watched as the dust cloud kicked up by the chase began to fade. "I... I should probably make she doesn't actually kill them shouldn't I?..." He sighed in resignation almost assuredly knowing he was going to take the lumps for this and sprinted after them, maybe he could distract her long enough for Kono to make a clean getaway.

_If he survived that long anyway._

...

"We're sorry! Stop chasing us you crazy witc-_oof!_" Konohamaru grunted as he suddenly collided with what felt like a brick wall, his small frame bouncing painfully off the surface and sending him sprawling onto the ground in a heap.

"Oww..." He cried holding his helmet as he tried to shake off the ringing in his ears. "What the..." The rest of his words died somewhere in his throat as he was locked in place under the stare of two emotionless teal eyes glaring impassively down upon him. Unconsciously he felt his body tremble in fear and he scrambled back trying in vain to get as far away from the unnerving sight as possible but those eyes tracked his every move... like a lion stalking its prey, moments before the kill.

He felt smaller than he'd ever felt before... so insignificant... his chest tightened and for a moment the world around him fell away. Green eyes flashed a sickly yellow and he felt like he was being buried alive, he wanted to scream but he couldn't produce the sounds.

_Then abruptly he was pulled from the brink._

"There you are!"

His quiet terror was broken by a pair of strong arms grabbing him and pulling him away, tucking him securely into their grasp. He tentatively looked up to find his pink-haired tormentor pulling him back, a bright smile fixed upon her face but her gaze remained locked onto the newcomer whose attention had similarly shifted towards the newly arrived pinkette.

Sakura maintained her smile even as she quietly placed her body in between Konohamaru and the mysterious foreign ninja. A petite young female with short blood-red hair that fell just under her neck and light green borderline teal eyes surrounded by dark black rings that reminded her of a tanuki. Upon her forehead, the kanji for "Love" almost seemed to have been carved onto her flesh where her hair was parted allowing it to be displayed in the open while on her back, tied to a sash was a large gourd that was almost as big as she herself was. Tied to the sash securing said gourd with a hitai-ate that had the symbol she recognized as belonging to Sunagakure.

She already deduced that this girl was no doubt here to participate in the upcoming exams. That much was almost a guarantee, however, what she was trying to figure out was why aura surrounding her was so... suffocating. Even when she was displaying no signs of aggression it felt as though her mere presence alone would swallow them whole...

"I apologize for him, it was my fault he ran into you." She offered what she hoped was a disarming smile and a slight bow of apology but kept her body tensed, ready to react if need be. "Please forgive us."She said attempting a more diplomatic approach in the hopes of not stirring whatever dangers lay beneath those cold green eyes.

The Suna-nin said nothing merely staring blankly at them for a few tense moments before nodding slowly. "No harm was done so think nothing of it." Her reply was short and her voice had a slight rasp to it, as though she spoke infrequently and doing so strained her.

The redhead's eyes wandered for a brief moment, as though catching sight of something yet to appear and Sakura had to fight back a frown at the sudden yet subtle shine of bloodlust that took root in her once expressionless gaze. She wanted to move but the idea of turning her back on this girl sent warning bells off in her mind... she hadn't felt like this since their first encounter with Zabuza.

"Sakura, Kono are you two okay?" She flinched slightly as the loud voice of her teammate abruptly cut through the tension, but she also allowed herself to relax just a tad at his arrival. His presence giving her a bit more confidence in the face of this unknown danger.

"We're okay." She nodded and from behind her Konohamaru stuttered out an affirmative ducking behind the blond and doing his best to keep out of sight.

He frowned to himself at the sight of his teammate, she almost seemed to coil in on herself... ready to run or fight at the slightest provocation which was very unlike her. He also took note of the terrified expressions of the Konohamaru squad, a far cry from their earlier arrogance and excitement. Cautious blue eyes shifted towards the presumed source of their discomfort, eyeing the small redhead with suspicion but he was not alone in his action as she did the same for him, a mutual interest but for entirely different reasons.

"You..." She spoke suddenly gently inclining her head towards him. "What is your name?" She asked with the first hint of emotion they'd heard or even seen from her this entire encounter. It was brief, the smallest sliver of something in a sea of nothing but it was there nonetheless. Whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, however...

"It's rude to ask someone else their name when you haven't introduced yourself." He answered back calmly not breaking their impromptu staring contest. "Especially when on foreign soil." He said hinting that to cause problems here would reflect poorly on her. He didn't like to rely on the strength of his village but he wouldn't chance it.

"Very well... my name is Sabaku no Risa." She introduced without so much as blinking making her whole introduction all the more unnerving. "Now, who are you?" She asked again this time more forcefully showing a growing impatience at his stalling.

He offered a small grin even as he grew conscious of the pressure she was trying to exert upon him. "That's a nice name you've got, very fitting." He replied casually not allowing her actions to affect him, but she showed no visible signs of approval or disapproval at his resolve. "I am Uzumaki Naruto." He introduced and he watched her mull the name over her lips parting faintly as she repeated it herself.

"Uzumaki Naruto..." She closed her eyes for a moment as though having a silent conversation with herself before returning to the present and facing him once more. "Will you be entering this years chunin exams, Uzumaki?" She questioned and he could just detect a hint of anticipation in her words, or at the very least what he assumed was anticipation.

"I plan on it." He nodded. "And since you are asking I would assume it is safe to say that you will also be entering the exams" He stated.

She nodded. "I see... I look forward to seeing what you can do Uzumaki, I hope you won't disappoint me." There was a subtle threat to her words but before he could reply she had already begun to walk away, leaving them to stare at her back with endless questions on their mind.

He barely registered the feeling of the Konohamaru and his friends clinging to his legs as he kept his eyes locked firmly on the retreating form of his newfound competition.

"Sabaku no Risa... I'll be keeping an eye on you..." He whispered into the wind.

These exams were already looking to be quite the challenge.

* * *

The week had come and gone in what seemed like the blink of an eye and soon enough the first day of the chunin exams was set to begin.

"To think we'd end up back here." Satsuki grunted as they made their way into the to the first testing location which just so happened to be the academy. "Of all the places to have this... couldn't it have been anywhere else?" She complained pushing past the sliding doors that sheltered the interior.

Sakura smiled and followed suit, "I think it's kinda nostalgic, we became genin here and it's where we take the first step towards becoming chunin. It's sort of fitting." She commented taking note of the various different teams filing through the corridors of the institution. She could see ninja from all different villages loitering around in the halls.

"At least we don't have to sit through those boring lectures anymore." He grumbled. He'd been happy to finally leave this place so coming back here was more annoying than nostalgic in his eyes.

Sakura just smirked and elbowed the blond in his side. "You're just mad Iruka-sensei always caught you sleeping in his class." She teased remembering all the times the blond had been chewed out for dozing off.

He rolled his eyes and pouted slightly, "I wasn't the only one to do it, hell I'm pretty sure I caught Princess nodding off from time to time!" He accused turning to face their resident survivor. "I bet half that time spent brooding was just her covering up a few winks." He complained

"As if." The Uchiha scoffed, turning her head away not at all willing to admit she may have _occasionally _caught some extra sleep from time to time but no one needed to know that. Especially not him.

"Whatever let's just head up already, the forms said the first exam would be held on the third floor so we might as well make our way up now and get settled in." He said earning nods from the rest of his team, their knowledge of the building allowing them to quickly locate the nearby stairwell and make their way up.

Reaching the second floor they were greeted by even more teams which made them curious about just how many people were going to enter these exams.

"What's the hold-up?" He searched around curious as to why so many teams seemed to be loitering around on this floor when they should be making their way further up. "There is no way all these people are just hanging around here waiting?"

Satsuki frowned and peered through the crowd towards the next set of stairs that would lead to the testing center. Her eyes narrowed as she caught sight of two no named genin seemingly blocking the entranceway to the next floor and by extension the examination room. Judging by the looks of things they weren't afraid to get a bit physical either as she witnessed a few Kumo-nins making their attempt.

"Let us through damn it!" One of the chunin hopefuls growled trying to shove his way past the two guarding the way. "We're headed to the third floor and you can't stop us!" He huffed stepping up closer to the stairwell and trying to push his way through.

His bravado, however, was met with a swift punch to the stomach that easily sent him to his knees gasping for breath and shocking some of the other contestants at the open display of violence. For Konoha of all places to indulge such behavior spat in the face of their supposedly "soft" image ingrained in the minds of more than a few of the contestants.

"You say that but you went down faster than an academy student to a single hit." The one who'd thrown the punch sneered. "Save everyone here the time and just quit you wouldn't last a day and we don't need you crowding up space." He huffed before backhanding another team that had tried to sneak past in all the commotion.

Sakura frowned at the interaction. "Is that even allowed?" She wondered wincing as yet another contestant tried and failed to make it past the floor guardians. "I thought the exams were supposed to open to anyone?"

They could already see many of the teams backing down from the displays alone and some teams just outright just walked away, the harsh barrier to entry coupled with their own doubts proving too strong to ignore with any amount of false bravado.

Naruto eyes narrowed, so that was their game... weed out those that didn't have the nerve or the talent to move forward and thin out the numbers. Only the best of the best would find success and this was an easy way so sift through the dirt to find the diamonds in the rough. It was tough but fair, preventing those who weren't ready from getting hurt while ensuring those that had the best chance made it through.

It didn't take long for his teammates to catch onto this either.

"Princess, handle them but keep it discreet." He ordered lowly, they needed to get by but they had no intention of emboldening the competition into just bum-rushing the doors either. "We don't want to let everyone through but we need to get past."

The Uchiha nodded and they swiftly made their way forward to the front and like every team before them, the two-floor guards moved to block their path.

"More weaklings? Why don't you guys seem to get it!" The more vocal of the two sneered his body tensed and ready to send them packing if they took a step further. "This isn't a place for a bunch of wet behind the ears genin to come show off, turn around and stop getting in the way. Make a move and I'll show you why you don't deserve to be here!"

Satsuki clicked her teeth in annoyance and did just that, taking a step ahead of her teammates and staring challengingly forward. Behind her raven locks, onyx eyes flashed an eerie and vibrant red unseen to the surrounding mob who were waiting anxiously for the usual violent response.

But it never came...

Team Seven walked quickly passed without incident leaving behind the mass of now bewildered and outraged competitors as they ascended the stairs up to the final floor of the academy. They could hear shouts of protest and anger coupled by the sounds of conflict in their wake but they paid it no mind. They'd gotten what they needed.

"You know that ability is super unfair right?" He commented having caught the glassy-eyed look the guards had sported at they's walked past. "How is it okay that you can cast genjutsu with your damn eyes, what kind of bull crap is that?" He whined.

The heiress merely smirked and crossed her arms. "We're ninja we aren't supposed to play fair." She replied without missing a beat, they'd had this discussion a few times now so it was almost routine for them. "If they couldn't shake that off then they are too weak to be standing in my way." She reasoned haughtily making him scowl in her direction.

"Don't you two start this again!" Sakura huffed seeing the beginnings of one of their usual arguments starting up again. She pushed them slightly hurrying them along before this devolved into a more physical altercation between the two. "We'll be late and then you two will have a fit if we miss this so move it." She scolded having gotten used to their bickering.

"Fine/Hn..." The two sent small glares towards each other but continued forward nonetheless. There was no real animosity between them but rather it was just ingrained in their natural behavior to try and get a rise out of the other.

The third floor was practically empty though that wasn't all that surprising given how many teams hadn't made it past the second floor. They wouldn't be surprised if most of them never made it up but to be honest they weren't complaining. If the rest of them were too weak to make it then that was their problem and whoever did make it past would hopefully prove to be a worthwhile challenge if nothing else.

"You there! Don't take another step!"

Team Seven came to an abrupt stop as a loud voice called out from behind them, halting their advance and causing them to turn around to face whoever had decided to scream at them from across the room.

They were unprepared for what they saw and nothing could have prepared them for such a sight.

"There is no way those are real..." Sakura blanched her face scrunched up in confusion.

"How did they even grow that big?" He wondered, his own face matching her bewildered expression... and why the hell did it seem so familiar to him?

"Are you two not seeing what he's wearing?" Even the ever stoic Uchiha could help but throw in her two cents as the trio looked on at the rather odd individual pointing somewhat dramatically at them.

A tall and lean youth stood defiantly before them, his hair done in a bowl-cut style that shined with unnatural light and was grabbed in a green full-body jumpsuit. He wore what looked liked orange leg warmers, and a red forehead protector was hung around his waist like a belt. As if his outfit wasn't strange enough his features weren't much better, with wide round eyes and the largest pair of eyebrows they'd ever seen in their lives.

_How were those even allowed?_

"Um... can we help you with something?" He asked not really sure what exactly they could have done to offend such a... unique individual. He wanted to be polite but his eyes just kept fixating on those damn bushy brows of his.

"I do not wish for your help!" He shouted his voice echoing across the room. "I only wish to challenge the one by the name of Uchiha Satsuki!" He declared pointing his finger right at the raven-haired kunoichi who couldn't help but be caught off guard by the sudden declaration. What the hell had she done?!

"Why exactly?" She asked giving the weirdo her full attention at the word challenge. "And who even are you?" She inquired, curious to see why he was looking for her specifically.

"Oh! Forgive my rudeness." He bowed deeply before rising back up and offering them a thumbs up and a bright smile. "I am the Beautiful Green Wild Beast of Konoha, Rock Lee!" He finished his teeth twinkling at the end of his short introduction.

...

"I have so many questions..." Satsuki felt a migraine coming on. "Why exactly do you want to fight me?" Normally she'd be happy to test herself against anyone that appeared worth her time but this was really weird and she wasn't exactly sure how to respond to it.

"I've heard of you Satsuki Uchiha... you were supposedly at the top of your class while I myself held the position as the deadlast of my year." He explained while gritting his teeth and clenching his fist as determination shined brightly in his eyes. "I wish to test myself against you and prove that hard work outshines natural talent so please, fight me here and now!" He declared pointing directly at the heiress to solidify his challenge.

"That's it?" She quirked a delicate eyebrow before scoffing and turning her back on him to the surprise of the supposed "Green Beast". "That isn't a good enough reason for me to waste time with you." She dismissed walking away from the challenge without a second thought the click of her sandles echoing through the mostly empty halls.

Lee frowned and opened his mouth to protest her dismal but before he could she spoke up once again.

"If you really want to fight me then earn the right by making it to the end of these exams." She turned her head and gave him a parting glance. "Fighting me here won't prove anything to anyone, either put your convictions on the line or don't stand in my way."

Lee seemed taken aback by her word, quietly mulling them over but after a few moments, he smiled and nodded his prior enthusiasm back on full display. "You are correct! Very well mark my words Satsuki Uchiha, I will defeat you and prove the value of hard work!" He vowed, holding his fist out to her back.

"Hn... we'll see." She scoffed and walked off, her team swiftly following after her with a short wave of farewells leaving Lee alone to watch the trio venture forth.

_He would show the world his resolve!_

"Lee you moron don't just leave us behind!" A heavy scroll slammed into the back of his head, sending him crashing into the floor with a cry as a young girl with her hair tied into two buns marched over and began kicking him in the side. "We are a team damn it!"

"I'm sorry Tenten!" He cried trying his best to block her assault. "I won't do it again!"

"I'll make you sorry! Next time don't run off without us!" She scowled and turned to their last teammate. "Thank you for finding him, Neji." She sighed getting a few last kicks in before allowing her teammate to rise from the floor.

A boy with milky white eyes merely nodded, his own gaze wandering in the direction Team Seven had headed off towards.

...

"304...305... ah, here we go room 306!" Sakura grinned as they located the first testing room.

"At least there are no tricks with this room. At least I hope not." He deadpanned, he wasn't opposed to a few tricks but he actually wanted to have some challenge and that wouldn't happen if no one could actually make it to the test.

"If there are we'll deal with them like everything else." Satsuki scoffed and slid the door open without hesitation before stepping inside.

Their concerns swiftly melted away as a large room filled with quite a few teams greeted them. Various genin from a variety of villages littered every nook and cranny assuring them there would be no lack of competition here. They'd barely taken two steps inside before they were immediately noticed.

"Whiskers! You made it!" Kira grinned and bounded over, the rest of her team following suit to greet the blond and by extension the rest of Team Seven. "We were starting to think you three weren't gonna show with how crowded it got in here." She barked punching the blond in the arm who rolled his eyes and shoved her lightly.

"You would have liked that wouldn't you Kibble? Sorry to burst your bubble though." He grinned before sliding past her and pulling the Hyuuga standing behind her into a hug. "Hina-chan~" He smiled and threw himself dramatically against the girl who flushed slightly at the sudden contact but returned the embrace nonetheless. "I've missed you, you left me to deal with that yappy pup over there all by myself." He whined earning a small laugh from the girl while Kira scowled at the insult.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, I will make it up to you at some point." She giggled reluctantly letting go of the blond to inspect him after all this time. It had been months since they'd been able to see each other due to training and other personal obligations. It was something she'd regretted but she was quietly pleased to see that their time apart had little effect on their friendship overall. She would need to make time to catch up with him sometime soon.

_Perhaps she'd even ask him on a..._

She blushed and quickly shook those thoughts away, there was a time and place for that and right now this was neither.

...

"Forehead." Ino sneered giving the pink-haired kunoichi a disgusted look.

"Piggy." Sakura grunted back sending a dismissive glance back at the Yamanaka heiress.

The two glared at one another with rage and annoyance in their eyes before after a few moments they abruptly broke into a fit of giggles and embraced each other in a tight hug. It'd been a long time since they'd been able to catch up and it looks like they'd both matured a bit in that time but even still they'd never grow past the urge to dig at each other a little bit.

"How's it been billboard brow?" Ino asked, taking a moment to look her best friend over for the first time in months and taking note of her growth. "You having fun babysitting those two." She smirked gesturing towards the scowling Uchiha and the hyperactive blond interacting with the rest of the rookies.

Sakura laughed and bumped Ino slightly. "They aren't so bad but someone has to keep them in line so I grin and bear it." She joked but Ino could see the fondness in Sakura's eyes when she looked at her two teammates. It made sense for her to look at Satsuki like that given the pair of them had admired the Uchiha throughout their academy years but to see Naruto included in that look as well...

Then again she could begrudgingly admit he wasn't all bad now so perhaps he'd earned it.

"How about you pig? What's working with Shika and Choji like?" Sakura asked wondering how the gossip queen got along with the two heirs. "I know you weren't super ecstatic about the whole thing?"

Ino snorted. "They're lazy and can be a pain in my ass... but I wouldn't trade them for anything." She admitted sparing her own fond glance over towards her teammates as well, they'd gone and joined the rest of their class in their little impromptu reunion. "That doesn't mean that we're weak by any means though so you better not underestimate us!" She promised, sending her friend a challenging look.

Sakura smirked and faked a yawn. "Whatever you say little piggy just try not to get in our way, we'd hate to have to knock you guys out of the exams~" She teased launching the pair into a playful series of catty insults.

...

"Choji! Shika-chan!" Naruto grinned and made his way over to the two. shaking hands with the Akamaichi heir who returned the gesture happily before then pulling the petite Nara into tight sideways hug much to her annoyance.

"I should have known you'd make your way here... this whole thing just got even more troublesome." She complained but didn't put up much resistance to the blonds embrace, something a few people noticed but decided not to comment on for the moment. "I wonder if it's too late for me to back out..." She muttered already nursing a headache with all these people around.

Choji chuckled at his friend's situation before offering a quick wave to everyone else as well. "Good to see you again Naruto, Satsuki." He greeted, returning to his ever-present bag of chips. "Glad you could make it."

"It looks like everyone's here." He grinned before turning around to face his last teammate. "Princess stop being antisocial and say hello to everyone." He pushed giving her a look halfway between a pout and a glare.

"Hn... hello." She said simply not bothering to go beyond that making him roll his eyes and the rest of the rookies snicker slightly at the Uchiha's ever-present reluctance to socialize. Then again she did at least address them which is more than she would have done a few months ago so hey, progress was progress!

Their little moment was interrupted by a bespectacled Konoha ninja with snow-white hair, that walked up and quietly addressed them, a short cough escaping his lips to draw their attention. "You all are a rowdy bunch aren't you? Don't you see you are causing a scene?" He said softly tilting his head to show them that they were, in fact, the current center of attention. Eyes from nearly every team were drawn onto them, some with filled with curiosity and others with pure annoyance.

Naruto and Satsuki scoffed, they could feel small bursts of killing intent being sent their way but nothing that compared to anything they'd faced in Wave or during their training. If this was the best these teams had to offer than these exams were going to be a massive waste of their time. The let loose a little bit and sent their own killing intent out towards the assembled teams, easily drowning any paltry attempts to intimidate them and shattering the confidence of more than a few teams that quickly averted their eyes from the group. Those that didn't, watched them with increased wariness and quietly shrunk back a bit.

They smirked as more and more teams backed down from their combined presence while from behind, Sakura could only sigh in exasperation at her two teammates desire to show off. They were supposed to be flying under the radar _not _painting targets on their backs!

"Problem solved." He shrugged turning back to the teen who tried to warn them. "But thanks for looking out for us I guess." He grinned rubbing the back of his head casually as though he hadn't just quietly threatened everyone in the room.

"Hn." Satsuki grunted and crossed her arms, relaxing once more but internally she was pleased with this new development. Trash should fear her as was their place.

"You're welcome..." The older ninja trailed off, a look of slight surprise gracing his features before he composed himself again. "Anyway, try not to make yourselves a target... there are a lot of teams here looking to prove themselves and you don't want them all gunning for you in the exam." He advised.

"Let them try it." He grinned before becoming curious. "Who are you anyway? I don't think I've seen you before." He noted causing the rest of the rookies to snap out of their shock and focus back in on the bespectacled ninja.

"Forgive me, my name is Yakushi Kabuto." The white-haired youth introduced with a short bow. "I am here like the rest of you hoping to finally pass these exams and graduate from being a genin." He admitted to the group.

"Finally?" Kira asked taking note of his phrasing. "So this isn't your first time taking these exams then?" She questioned.

Kabuto shook his head. "No, this will actually be my seventh attempt at taking this test." He hung his head somewhat shamefully. "Perhaps this time I will have better luck."

"Seventh?" Kira blinked in surprise. "How can you suck that much?" She asked before yelping slightly as Hinata elbowed her harshly in the side for being rather blunt about it. "What it's true?" She defended holding her wounded side with a pout.

Kabuto laughed good-naturedly at the Inuzuka's comment and adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps you are right... or maybe these exams are actually harder than you think." He suggested eyeing them all over with an unreadable look. "Becoming a chunin is no easy feat even for the naturally talented among us." He stated softly.

"Either way, it was obvious to me that you lot were new to this so I thought I should do my part to help my juniors and offer you a bit of assistance." He said as he reached into his pouch and pulled out a deck of blank cards. "Information is as good as gold in our world, and I'd be happy to share what I've picked up along the way." He offered.

"If there is anyone you'd like to know more about I can give you some more info." He said scanning the assembled genin who were looking at the cards with a bit of curiosity and a fair bit of skepticism. It seemed like a reach but the offer was tempting.

"Rock Lee." Satsuki spoke up deciding there was no harm in it and she was curious to learn more about the rather odd ninja who'd confronted them earlier. "What have you got on him?" She asked.

"You already know his name? You lot are no fun." He chuckled and they watched as Kabuto channeled some chakra into the cards in his hand, the previously blank card being replaced suddenly revealing a picture of the ninja in question along with some information being scribbled underneath.

"Rock Lee, genin of Konoha and under the leadership of jounin Might Guy. He has completed 30 D-rank and 12 C-ranked missions in total, his taijutsu ability is extremely impressive bordering on ridiculous but he has no talent in any of the other shinobi arts." Kabuto read off, showing the card to confirm his statements.

They appeared legit...

Naruto frowned slightly to himself, how exactly had Kabuto obtained that information. Last he checked mission records were locked away within the Hokage tower and special permission had to be granted to even go through those records...

"How about Sabaku no Risa?" He asked, curious to see what he could find out about the unsettling redhead. He also wanted to see if Kabuto would flounder having to pull information from shinobi, not from their own village.

"Easy enough." Kabuto nodded pulling out another blank card and repeating the process. "Sabaku no Risa, genin of Suna under the leadership of jounin Baki. She's completed 14 C-rank missions and 1 B-rank mission during her career." He said before pausing and reading off a final bit of information. "It is also said that she has never received a single scratch on any of her assignments."

Naruto merely nodded, making a mental note of the information but at the same time, he was also running through his suspicions of the older ninja. The fact that he knows all that about a foreign ninja makes no sense. The only time a shinobi's missions records were made public was if they became a missing-nin, forfeiting their right to privacy or protection from their home village and giving bounty hunters a fair idea of what they were capable of so that they could be hunted down and eliminated.

Last he checked, Risa was neither a missing-nin nor a Konoha shinobi, so how did Kabuto have access to her records...

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden spike of _strong_ killing intent being directed his way, visions of pain quickly flashed in his mind before he centered himself. Quickly scanning the room to locate its source it didn't take long given the raw malic being pushed his way and given the circumstances, he shouldn't have been surprised.

_Speak of the devil and she shall appear._

It seemed Risa had overheard them and was now staring off in his direction, her arms crossed over her chest and her head bowed slightly but her eyes made it clear that he had her undivided interest. Despite her actions, she seemed almost pleased to have his attention, like she was testing him for something and he was meeting her expectations. Sending off his own wave of pressure at her did little more than cause her to smile softly... as if they'd been friends exchanging gifts rather than two enemies declaring themselves to one another.

He didn't like that smile of hers... it put him on edge more than he would care to admit but he wouldn't show it. He didn't know what she wanted from him but he wouldn't take her lightly either.

He quietly noticed that standing by her side were two more Suna-nin that looked to be slightly older than his group. The first being another female with dirty blond hair that was tied into four spiked ponytails who seemed to be carrying a large slab of metal across her back, perhaps some kind of blunt force weapon? She wore her headband around her neck and a long purple combat dress with a red sash tied around her waist.

The second was a male... or at least he was fairly confident he was a male but the makeup kind of threw him off. He was a fairly tall teen whose features were hidden behind a black full-bodysuit with what almost looked like cat ears at the top. Drawn his face was a series of dark purple patterns that made it difficult to get a full grasp as to the boy's features but he was distinct enough on his own. Like the rest of his team, he also carried some odd instrument on his back, a large heavily wrapped bundle was tied around his shoulders but a mop of what looked almost like brown hair could be seen peeking out the top.

_At least it fits the theme he supposed._

"Don't underestimate us!"

He blinked and turned back to face the rest of his group just in time to see Kabuto being launched into one of the nearby walls of the waiting room. A heavily bandaged genin wearing a headband with a musical note on it and metal gauntlet on his arm stood leering over the fallen Konoha ninja with clear anger in his single dark eye.

He really needed to avoid spacing out like this...

Before the mummified genin could strike again a large puff of smoke appeared by his side and a gloved hand easily caught the offending shinobi in its grip, halting the attack. The smoke cleared and all were privy to the very imposing figure that stepped out of it. A tall man wearing a black trench coat and two deep scars cut into his chiseled face glared down at the suddenly mute genin in his grasp, cold black eyes glaring deeply at the lot of them before he scoffed and threw the foreign ninja aside.

"It's fine to be eager but keep yourself in check or I will happily throw you and your team out of my exam, is that clear?" The mysterious jounin asked but everyone could tell it was less of a question and more of a demand. One that would be severely punished if not heeded.

"Crystal." Replied the bandaged ninja, who quietly made his way back to his team, leaving the scarred jounin to look around the room for a brief moment. He leveled a quick glance at each contestant but his face was unreadable so it was impossible to figure out just what exactly was going through his mind.

"It seems like this is it... very well then, welcome to this years Chunin Exams." He greeted in what was likely supposed to be an encouraging manner but it came off as gruff and almost threatening. "My name is Morino Ibiki, I will be overseeing you for this part of the exam." He explained while making his way over to a door on the opposite side of the room.

"You will each be given a number, you are to sit exactly where that number demands, if you try and pull a fast one or swap numbers... well the results will be less than pleasant for you but please by all means... take your chance, maybe you'll get lucky?" Ibiki chuckled darkly and every contestant felt a hint of dread creep through them at the ominous threat.

"If there are no questions then get moving, we're burning daylight." He ordered and quickly teams began to funnel into the newly opened room, teams did their best to stay together but in the end, it was a fruitless endeavor and they all found themselves strewn about. Some placed next to familiar faces while others found themselves surrounded on all sides by strangers. He could see that Sakura and Satsuki had managed to end up not too far apart, they were in the same row but they were separated by three other contestants, fellow Konoha ninja that must have graduated sometime before them. At least it wasn't anyone that would be openly hostile to the two of them.

"Looks like we're test buddies eh, Hina-chan?" He whispered with a subdued grin shooting a look at the Hyuuga sitting by his side with amusement.

"It is rather nostalgic, Naruto-kun." Hinata giggled while maintaining a semblance of seriousness as to not draw attention. The two of them had been seated next to one another for five years prior to this so being paired up again was almost poetic now. "I do hope you won't fall asleep in here though, I have a feeling that Morino-san won't be as forgiving as Iruka-sensei." She teased causing him to snort quietly.

"I make no promises." He chuckled. He was happy he'd been put next to someone he knew and their joking was helping alleviate some of the tension that had arisen during Ibiki's introduction. That wasn't to say he was scared or anything but he would be lying if he didn't admit he found the whole experience slightly nerve wracking.

"All of you cut the chatter." The strong voice of Ibiki cut through the quiet murmuring of the assembled contestants like a knife. "I don't plan to waste any more time so let me explain what exactly will be happening."

As he finished a large cloud of smoke erupted behind him which quickly dispelled to reveal a large team of what appeared to be chunin. In place of the traditional green vest, each member sported a special blackened chunin vest or attire that matched Ibiki's own dark clothing and black trench coat.

"This part of the exam should relax you a bit... you all will be taking a simple test." He revealed and as he did so two members of his team quickly got to work handing out testing sheets. "You can't become a chunin if you can't answer some basic questions after all." He chuckled again and like before many felt their hairs stand on end at the discomforting sound. "You will have exactly one hour to take this exam so there will be plenty of time."

Naruto took a moment to inspect his newly acquired test sheet and within seconds his heart dropped into his chest.

_"Question 1: Line B is the greatest possible distance a shinobi can throw his shuriken from a tree of 7 meters. For enemies who appear within the circumference of the shuriken's range, explain his attack options. Use the reference diagram on the back of the page to show work."_

_WHO THE HELL MADE THESE QUESTIONS?!_

Sneaking a glance to his side he could see Hinata's face scrunched up in disbelief, her normally calm expression replaced with confusion and mild anxiety. All around the room he spotted similar expressions with some being more or less intense than others he found himself quietly questioning his preparedness for this test.

"Now..." Ibiki's voice brought all attention back to him. "I will be explaining the rules so pay attention because I won't repeat them. As I said you'll have an hour to answer these nine questions, which given you are the supposed brightest of your respective villages shouldn't be too hard." He joked clearly in the know that practically no one in the room could really answer these questions, at this point he was just playing on their pride. "Once the hour is up you will be given a tenth question to answer, assuming you make it that far, that will be weighed more heavily than the previous nine."

"From there, your tests' will be collected and it will be decided if you will move on or not." He explained before taking a moment to pause and give them a hard look. "However, as with any test there is always a concern in the form of cheaters. Those of you with a less academic persuasion might feel tempted to cheat off your harder-working competition..." He glared at the assembled group before him and almost immediately those with less mental fortitude began to squirm under his gaze.

"Be thankful then that in this case, cheating will not result in an immediate failure." He said causing looks of confusion to erupt among the contestants who had never heard any instructor say such a thing.

"Don't think this means you'll get off scot-free though... for every time you get caught cheating you will automatically be docked two points off your total score. Get caught five times and you will automatically be failed and thrown out." He explained casually with a shrug of his shoulders. "Also you should probably know this before you begin but..."

"If a member of your team is disqualified or fails to answer enough of the questions... the rest of their team will also automatically be disqualified." He revealed much to the assembled groups disbelief. As if the stakes weren't high enough...

"You can't be serious! How is that fair?!"

Ibiki growled and flared his own killing intent quickly silencing any opposition to his rules. "Sit down and shut up, this is my exam meaning these are my rules. If you don't like them then you and your team can pack up and walk right now, otherwise suck it up." His face was set into a dark scowl and Naruto could see a few teams debating the merits of pushing on ahead.

This guy is no joke...

Ibiki looked around for a few more moments before nodding. "Now that we've gotten the rules explained you are free to begin. Remember we are watching you so keep your noses clean or you can forget about making it to chunin this year." He grunted.

"Begin!"

...

He wanted to scream... scratch that what he actually wanted was to find the person who'd gone and created such a bullshit test and beat them until they swore on their soul to never so much as ask another living person a question ever again! He'd haunt them until the end of his days and he'd claw his way out of the Shinigami's cold dead hands to remind them that he was still watching!

Nine questions.

Nine questions he was barely unable to understand let alone answer! Nothing made any damn sense. He knew he was rather lax when it came to his academy curriculum but he was pretty sure nothing here had ever been covered by even the dullest of Iruka's lectures. The only people who might even be able to make heads or tales of this were likely Sakura and Shika. The former of which he couldn't ask seeing as she was behind him and that counted as cheating and the latter probably couldn't even be bothered to try. Not including the fact that technically they were currently competing right now.

_There has got to be something here I'm not seeing... how could anyone be expected to pass this? I've seen some of the chunin around here and I know full well more than half of them would fail this outright. Why would you even need a written test anyway? Maybe for jounin sure but chunin weren't exactly rare or particularly more valuable than a seasoned genin._

The more he thought about it the less sense the entire thing made. Why give them a written test at all and if this was so important why hadn't Kakashi prepared them for it? The whole thing seemed off to him.

The rules didn't make any sense either, cheating didn't get you disqualified but being bad at cheating did? So as long as you could cheat well then you could avoid being tossed out... wait, what?

His suddenly wanted to smack himself at the obviousness of it. They were _supposed _to cheat!

That is the only solution that made any sense! If the actual test mattered then the moment they were caught they _should _be disqualified but that wasn't the case. Someone could cheat four times and still remain in the test which wouldn't make sense if the goal was to actually answer the questions. So the real test wasn't the paper sitting before him but rather, how could he cheat without being caught...

He looked around subtly and he caught glimpses of the methods others were using, some of which were more than questionable in his eyes but they fell within the rules.

By his side, he could see the pronounced veins of Hinata's byakugan accomplishing the task with ease. Her face was no longer filled with anxiousness but rather she seemed much more at ease, slight confidence in her gentle smile as her fingers worked to inscribe her answers down upon her own sheet.

It was blatant cheating but at most, she could only lose two points meaning she was perfectly fine in the grand scheme of things.

Below he could see Kira using Akamaru as a scout, the pup relaying answers to his master in a language only they spoke. No doubt Ibiki was fully aware of the Inuzuka's ability but he made no move to penalize her which gave him confidence that his theory was correct.

The question was, how exactly was _he _supposed to cheat?

His arsenal was almost exclusively combat-oriented, he had no real specialties in information gathering other than his clones, and even with all his practice he still couldn't make them without at least one person noticing...

Not unless he covered it up. Even if he got caught he could take the loss, he just couldn't get caught three more times!

Reaching into his shuriken pouch he took hold of two smoke bombs he packed in preparation for the test. His fingers grasping the two pellets tightly between his fingers as he took a quick preliminary glance around the room as he made a mental note of key locations for his plan. He needed to do this quickly otherwise he would be out of luck unless a new opportunity presented itself.

_BANG!_

Thick heavy smoke rapidly filled the testing chamber obscuring both the contestants and the proctors' lines of sight. Contestants began to cough and wheeze in the thick cloud of smoke and even curses could be heard through it as people tried and failed to make heads or tails of what was going on in the thick cloud. It didn't take long for one of the proctors to make their way over to a nearby window and open it, letting the smoke vent out from the room and slowly restoring the room back to its previously clean condition.

Ibiki growled and stared down the now bewilder contestants, many of them were looking around trying to find out just who'd smoked them all out while others seemed to just found the whole situation to be an annoyance. He scanned the room but nothing appeared to be out of place but he was very certain one of these brats had just pulled something.

From his seat in the back, Naruto had to fight to keep the pleased look off his face as he returned to his test. Everything had gone exactly as planned, Ibiki seemed suspicious but didn't appear to be completely sure what was going on which worked in his favor. Even if he got caught now he should still only lose two points according to the rules outlined.

"Ne... you won't rat me out will you, Hina-chan?" He whispered quietly, keeping his eyes down as he spoke to the girl by his side.

Hinata hid an amused smile behind her bangs and gently shook her head choosing not to answer verbally but assuring him his secret was safe with her. Her gaze drifted behind closed eyelids to the small pockets of chakra that were now scattered all over the room, some hung from the ceilings, others sat on desks, there were even a few lingering by the proctors. She'd been able to see through the smoke and had easily caught her friends little trick but it wasn't her place to call him out on it so she wouldn't draw attention to him.

Unknown to them, there were a few others who'd caught the trick, a second Hyuuga further in the back narrowed his eyes at the boy but said nothing turning his head back to his own test and an older kunoichi from Grass seemed to smirk in amusement before tipping her straw hat down to shield the rest of her face to hide her chuckling.

The rest of the contests remained blissfully unaware, not noticing objects within the room occasionally shifting positions and vanishing in tiny puffs of smoke above or beside them, leaving no evidence of their origin.

The test continued mostly uninterrupted from that point on and throughout the rest of the hour quite a few teams ended up being thrown out. Some leaving peacefully accepting they'd been caught while others needed a bit more... persuasion, to exit the testing area but when all was said and done the testing group was quite a bit smaller than when they had started.

"Alright, that's enough!" Ibiki shouted causing everyone who was left to pause and settle down. "Congrats on making it this far but before you celebrate do remember we have one last question to go through." He said keeping an impassive face while the crowd of genin began to murmur uneasily at the thought.

"The tenth question is a bit special so listen up, as I mentioned before this question is weighed different than the rest and I will tell you right now that if you choose not to take it then you will fail right here and now." He informed not even flinching at the shouts of shock and outrage that were hurled his way.

"Then why even have the other nine questions?" One of the Suna-nins asked with a frown. "No one who's come this far would back out here if the result is an automatic failure..." He questioned.

"Like I said this question is special." Ibiki repeated. "Yes, if you don't take this question you will fail... however if you take the tenth question and you get it wrong, not only will you fail here but..."

"You will never be allowed to take the test again, you will remain genin for the rest of your career." He finished sending the contestants reeling.

"What?! That's total bullshit!" Kira snarled more than sick of being pulled around by the nose. "There is no way you can do that, people have taken this exam more than once!" She knew for a fact it had taken her sister two attempts to pass and earn her chunin rank so what the hell had changed?!

"I can and I will, I said it before this is _my_ test and these are _my_ rules. Those people had the good fortune that I wasn't in charge of those exams but you don't have that same luxury." He glared and once more flared his intent at the panicked mob. "No one is forcing you to take the question, if you back out now you'll fail but at least you'll be able to try again but if you commit you better be prepared to risk your career and your teams."

His words hit all the assembled genin hard, reminding them that not only would this choice permanently stain their own progression but also the progression of their peers... could anyone really risk that?

"I...I forfeit!" A voice from the back called out and a lanky teen walked out, followed swiftly by his two saddened teammates.

"I think I'll back out too..." Yet another team made their way out.

More and more teams made their way out and those that remained were finding their prior courage and anticipation drained, replaced instead with crippling anxiety and fear. With every group that made their way the question of whether or not it was worth risking their entire careers on a simple question ran through their collective minds.

Satsuki growled internally at the question, the idea of never being able to move up in rank pricked at her. The idea of staining the reputation of her proud clan by remaining a simple genin for the rest of her days would no doubt eat at her pride, her father would roll in his grave at such an idea and she'd be stuck below _him _for the rest of her life... but could she risk not only her goals but the rest of her team on a single gambit?

Sakura frowned as she did her best not to overthink this whole scenario, they'd already come this far right? So if she gave up wouldn't that invalidate all their hard work!... But if she was wrong and they took the question and failed then they'd be genin forever and she didn't know if she could do that to them.

...

"Are you done?"

Ibiki's eyes narrowed at the challenging words that had just been thrown his way and he swiveled his gaze towards the back where a whiskered youth sat glaring unflinchingly towards him.

"Excuse me?"

"I asked, are you done? With this whole intimidation act, I mean." He clarified keeping his eyes locked onto the jounin below. "Because it's getting on my nerves."

"Spare me the false bravado kid, stop and think for a moment on what you're about to do. Are you really going to thoughtlessly risk your future to try and look tough for a few moments?" He barked focusing his attention solely on the blond, as did many of the contestants who looked at the Konoha genin like he was a madman.

"I'll stop when you stop trying to screw us over with mind games." He shot back slamming his palm upon the desk. "Everything you said so far hasn't made any damn sense so why the hell should I believe some random jounin I've never even seen before has any input on if I can ever become a chunin!" He argued and a couple of people nodded along with his sentiment. "Last I checked the Kages make the final decision on stuff and I highly doubt you can tell another village to never promote their own ninja." He knew what he was doing technically would help his competition but he didn't want to risk his team dropping out if he waited.

"You wanna risk it? If your wrong you'll stay here at the bottom for the rest of your life." Ibiki asked.

"So be it then, I don't need to be a chunin to become the strongest so go ahead and hit me your best shot!" He grinned. "Just don't be surprised when you find out a genin is stronger than you are." He laughed.

"Cheeky little..." Ibiki scowled but inwardly he couldn't help but laugh at the kid's moxie, it was a bit refreshing in his line of work. He could see the brat's words had inspired the rest of the competition too with many seeing the logic in his words or just generally growing emboldened by his little speech. They turned to face him and he spotted much less hesitation than moments prior... they were still scared but they were willing to take the risk now.

How interesting.

"Do as you want then. This is the last chance for any of you to back out..." No one budged and he nodded. "Very well, then I have to say..."

"Congratulations, you all pass!" He revealed causing the assembled group to stare in shock. "All of you that remained will move on to the second portion of the exam."

"But... what about the tenth question?" Sakura asked. "What was it?"

"There is no tenth question, at least not a real one anyway." Ibiki shook his head and gestured to them. "The whole point of the tenth question wasn't to test your knowledge but rather your resolve." He explained seeing the confused looks on their face.

"As chunin, you will be expected to lead those under you and make decisions without fully knowing the consequences or the outcome but to become a chunin you need to have the will to make those hard choices, to make a judgment call even if it puts you at risk. Having the confidence to know that sometimes all you can do is push forward is what separates leaders from followers."

"You all took the leap and as a reward, you get to move forward. However just because it worked out for you this time doesn't mean you should always blindly take a risk either, don't fear the unknown but don't underestimate it either." He noted imparting a last bit of wisdom to them.

Naruto nodded from the back, all the pieces fell into place now. The information-gathering was a skill check essentially, could they complete a task without being caught while also under pressure. The use of a group threat to bully those without the mental fortitude to avoid cracking under pressure into walking out essentially weeding out those who weren't ready for that level of commitment.

There was a lot more to these exams than he'd originally thought and he couldn't help but wonder what they'd face next.

His thoughts would be promptly interrupted by the sound of shattering glass as a dark bundle rolled onto the floor and into the center of the room. Many of the contestants instinctively reached for their weapons anticipating some sort of attack but were left confounded when a banner appeared from seemingly out of nowhere.

"The sexy and single Mitarashi Anko has arrived!" A cheerful and slightly sultry female voice announced as the bundle along the floor sprung up revealing an attractive young woman with spiked purple hair and a tan trench coat that did little to hide her figure. A point that was not helped by her skintight mesh undershirt that left very little to the imagination.

Ibiki sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Anko you're still too early..." Why was she always like this and more to the point why was she always paired up with him?

"Aww, Ibiki let me have this! Besides, you should be happy I actually waited for the test to be over this time~" She laughed before taking a good look at the remaining contestants and frowning. "Oi! What the hell why are there so many of these brats still here? You losing your touch or something?" She questioned seeing around twenty-six team still remaining judging by the numbers.

"Not my fault, that mouthy blond one up there apparently oozes charisma." He grunted gesturing up to where the whiskered youth was sitting.

"Mouthy blond?" Anko followed his gaze and she stared at him for a few moments before her eyes widened a bit in recognition. "Oh, you've gotta be shitting me!" She laughed.

Naruto blinked in confusion when Anko suddenly disappeared from sight only to flounder when a sudden weight was pressed upon his head, his blond locks flattening out as they were pressed down by a pair of very soft... 'things' above him while slender arms wrapped themselves around his torso.

"Hello again, brat~" Anko practically purred into his ears. "Aren't you gonna say hello to your old friend Anko-chan~?" She chuckled when he quickly stiffened in her hold and she idly noted he did something similar when she'd picked him up years before. Looking at him now it was hard to believe that this was the same little punk she'd run into on the street.

"H-Hello Anko-san-"

"Anko-_chan" _She insisted struggling to contain her laughter while onlookers watch with a mixture of shock, confusion, and in some cases a fair bit of jealousy. "I'm hurt you never came by and said hello again you know?" She fake pouted enjoying feeling him squirm, she supposed he could only grow up so much in that time.

He was still such a brat.

"I didn't exactly know where to find you Anko-sa-" He felt her arms tighten around his neck slightly. "Anko-_chan!_" He quickly corrected trying to keep his voice level given the circumstance. He'd never forgotten the purple-haired kunoichi but he didn't remember her being like this during their first meeting. Then again it was amazing what you could overlook as a child so perhaps he'd just tried to suppress those memories...

"Mou... I guess I'll let you off the hook this time since I have an exam to run but it better not happen again." She scolded, releasing him with a quick pat on the cheek before sauntering off back down to the bottom floor. Leaving him to deal with the awkward stares from both his classmates and the other competitors. He didn't dare turn around knowing full well Satsuki and Sakura were going grill him on this at some point.

_Why did Kami like to torture him?_

Anko grinned seeing the tortured look on the blond's face and nodded to herself before addressing the rest of the class. "Eyes up here maggots! You lot will have time to glare at each other later because in case you've forgotten you have a test to take." She reminded them snapping their focus away from the blond and back to her. "Much better!"

"You have ten minutes to make it to Training Ground 44 or you'll forfeit your spot in the next part of the test don't go wasting time!" She informed before hopping onto and out of the shattered window, leaving a very confused and bewildered group behind her.

"I'd probably start moving if I were you, she's not kidding." Ibiki sighed and with that piece of advice, many of the competitors quickly made their way out after her, hoping to keep pace in fear of being left behind and getting lost.

Naruto was about to follow when he felt an iron grip on his shoulder and he came face to face with a very irate Uchiha who was currently leveling her nastiest 'Uchiha glare' at him and a highly bemused Sakura who was watching from what she likely considered a safe distance already knowing better than to intervene during times like this.

The little traitor!

_He was beginning to think entering these exams was a mistake on his part…_

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**AN. Chapter Complete!**

**Originally this chapter was supposed to be much shorter and the written exam would have taken up the first portion of the next chapter but I decided I would just get this part out of the way now since I don't want to pad out the story so you all get another close to 14k word chapter. Anyway, as I mentioned above, I will be talking about why this took so long but I will put it at the end and separate it with a line break for people who don't really care and just want to see the notes where I explain stuff for the main story. This will be a looooooooooong AN so read through it as you wish.**

**So starting off with the new dynamic of Team Seven:**

**So, I think it's clear to see that Team Seven is much more relaxed and comfortable with one another than they were prior to the time skip, Sakura feels much more integrated into the dynamic and Satsuki is much more relaxed and willing to engage with her team compared to before which I think makes it clear to see they've grown a bit. This will be reflected in combat as well but since we didn't really have any fights here that didn't show but I am looking forward to having the three of them working in tandem now as opposed to just Naruto and Satsuki.**

**Haku and what role will we see her in once she's off probation?:**

**I do plan to have Haku accompany Naruto from time to time but this will also be her chance to explore her newfound version of freedom given that she won't always be tied to Naruto's hip. With some of the events, I have planned she will still be a frequent face so have no worries if you are a big fan of hers.**

**Gaara's introduction or should I say Risa's introduction:**

**So before I begin with this I do have to say thank you to TheRazgrizDragon (A reader) who suggested the name, Risa for a female Gaara. He did some research with a friend and found the name apparently has a few meanings in relation to sand one such being the term 'Village sand' which I liked for her. Given Gaara's father's name is Rasa I thought it was very fitting. I don't know if he still reads this but if so thank you again!**

**Anyway back onto her, I know that her introduction is very short and unlike the other characters, we don't get a good grasp of her personality very early on like we did with Haku. That is intentional since Gaara can be very subdued until provoked and I wanted to keep that theme with her. She will have her own distinct personality as I explore her further but for right now she's going to be a bit more reserved.**

**Anko's introduction:**

**I want to be clear that the little moment I added at the end is not some hint that Anko will be joining the harem or even that she'll have a major story presence going forward. I just threw that in because it seemed like something she would do and when she is 'on screen' so to speak I do want her to really show off her traits. This was just here teasing and I hope I didn't get anyone hopes up too high that something had changed in the meantime.**

**The lack of other villages in this exam:**

**I mentioned before that I did, in fact, want to try and add other villages to the exam but backtracked on that idea when I realized just how much that would add on here. Even with the changes, I plan to make throwing in more characters, and world-building wouldn't be ideal in such a cramped space and so I'd rather hold off on that and use the other villages in different storylines I have planned instead of just shoving them in for the sake of it.**

**Given that we already have all of the rookies, their jounin instructors, the sand siblings, the sound-nin, and so on I just realized that with the way I write having to flesh out even more people would just become silly. So I am sorry about that but I do have plans to go visit the other villages in the world with different storylines in place.**

**Lastly, harem stuff and in particular Tayuya:**

**In the last update where I spoke about Tayuya, I mentioned that I was debating taking her out because I wasn't sure how I was going to fit her into the story as well as being concerned with having to balance Risa's introduction with hers. A lot of people took this incorrectly as me just not knowing how to introduce a character that wasn't originally done in the story until almost the last minute of the ark, but that was not the case.**

**My issue is/was that I didn't know how to introduce her given that the changes I was going to make to the story would make introducing her as an ally let alone a love interest very stressful on the characters. I don't like writing in a style where I say "I need everyone to accept X character, so all of you who have a problem with it just temporarily switch off your morals and ideals for an easy transition." It just feels wrong to do that and so I was trying to fit that in a way that wouldn't make me have to rewrite that entire section of plot.**

**I do understand that people want her and are passionate but to those who messaged me angrily about it need to chill. A pairing choice is never going to overwrite my desire to write a story that feels like it makes sense. **

**To be clear not calling out the people who did so in a respectful manner and understood where I was coming from just the people who wished to yell at me for not wanting to mess up story flow and character personalities so they can have one character.**

**Anyway, I did come up with a few solutions while I was gone that mostly solve my concerns but some people did ask that if I didn't do Tayuya would I be willing to replace her with another character who might be less problematic for the story and I did consider it.**

**So before I make a final decision on this I figured I pose it to you. I can keep Tayuya and just adjust my plans or I can swap her out for another character. Specifically, Samui from Kumo because a lot of people had surged mentioning how they'd like to see her even though the harem was/is locked. I'll probably post a poll on my page to see where people land so check that out and vote if you'd like or just let me know in the reviews**

**It still falls in my rules since this is a swap not an addition but I also know many readers like both characters so we'll see. **

**Anyway, that's all for story/harem updates so if that's all you cared about you can click off or onto the next chapter while I go onto to talk about personal stuff.**

* * *

**...**

**So, the first part of why I was gone is just that I had a slight case of burnout for this fic. This isn't new and I have talked about it before and it usually is only a temporary thing that goes away if I take a break or change focus to work on another story. I couldn't write more than a few hundred words at a time and seeing that chapters are thousands of words long I knew it was time for another break so I could come back more positive and ready to tackle the next few chapters. It made sense given how dense the chunin exams are anyway so I felt that would be okay since I didn't want to try and write the whole arc being burnt out.**

**Now during this break some personal stuff got in the way which didn't help with me not wanting to write in general but I am not going to into that. What I do want to be upfront about, however, is that while I was away the story underwent a period of just really negative/critical/harsh review after review that I was not expecting at all given the generally positive reception the story has gained over time. To be clear I am and always have been fine with critical reviews and that I don't begrudge the people who sent them in the slightest, because getting feedback, positive or negative, is just part of posting things publicly and I respect the right for people to leave their thoughts. I don't want a narrative to spring up that I ran away from this story because of criticism or negativity, rather I just want to be open about how it just happened to occur at the most unideal time possible and it killed a lot of my motivation to return from my break even though I was in middle of writing other stories and working on this one.**

**The point of the break is to refresh and come back with a more positive outlook regarding the fic so that I can write at my best. So, when I opened my emails and it was just back to back reviews slamming the story... well, you can probably guess that it didn't do me any favors in restoring my desire to write this fic. There came a point where I just didn't bother reading the reviews for it anymore, just opening then closing the emails to get them out of the way and that's not a good thing for any writer. Believe me, when I say out of everyone I am the most cognizant of the failings in this fic, especially the early chapters but I just don't have the time to dedicate to fixing them. It's why I don't mind people being critical because it's a reminder to me to do better which I think witch each new fic I've written, I have.**

**With all that in mind, this story has kind of fallen into a limbo where I'm not sure what I am going to do with it given my mixed feelings on it. I've debated rewriting it but something that I've kinda shown with the rewrite of Trials (yes I did rewrite it, it's now my third story if you didn't know) is that when I rewrite something I completely change it and the cast of characters. This would fix a lot of the stuff I have issues with but I know would also upset people who have fallen in love with this cast including myself and I don't know if I really want to tell this story again, not when I have so many drafts just sitting on my computer waiting to be written. **

**I will admit I also debated just dropping the fic. I like this story but I also have tons of ideas I could explore and more importantly write better than this one but again the idea of just unceremoniously dropping a story like this, given that it is in part a reaction to just not being in a super great place right now feels wrong too. (Not depressed to be clear just stuff not working out how I'd like!). I try to avoid hasty decisions and to be clear neither of these are set in stone, just stuff I am considering given how I feel presently about ABP.**

**For now, I will just keep working on the next chapter regardless and try to organize my thoughts on this. To be upfront this is not meant to be a pity party, I don't want anyone to feel like they need to rush and PM how much they love the fic or leave reviews gushing about it or anything of the sort. This update is just to be upfront about where I am mentally in regards to this fic and let you know why its been taking so long. I don't know exactly when the next chapter will be coming out given that college has started back up and it looks to be a busy semester plus games I like are coming out, Borderlands 3 has me waiting like its Christmas lol.**

**Thank you for reading, both this update and the story. I know it sounds really depressing and I didn't mean for that I just wanted to be open about it. If you have questions feel free to PM me I answer whenever I can or just leave your questions in a review and I will try and answer them!**

**Thank you so much for your time and I'll see you all again soon hopefully! If there are any glaring mistakes or omssions please feel free to PM me about those as well so I can patch them up. With long chapters like this, it can be hard to catch everything so sorry in advance.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own thoughts and ideas but please enjoy the work regardless!**

**Hello! It has been a bit since the last update and I apologize for that life gets busy sometimes and as much as I enjoy writing there is only so much one can fit into a day. I hope you all have been well since you were last here, I want to thank you all very much for the support on the previous chapter it was very much appreciated and I can't thank you all enough for sticking with story for as long as you have! Anyway, this chapter isn't very huge for storytelling and I'll talk more about that at the end as usual so without further delay...**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

"Alright listen up brats, I'm only going to say this once so you'd better be paying attention!"

Anko allowed her eyes to scan over the assembled groups of genin stand before her, she could see their focus was just as much on her as it was the looming gated off forest towering behind her. This was Training Ground 44, or as it was more popularly known amongst the locals...

The Forest of Death.

A bit dramatic perhaps, but given the creatures that call the forest home it certainly wasn't a place just anyone could wander off into and expect to return unscathed. There was a reason that, barring special circumstances, civilians and genin were not allowed to step foot into the forest. Even more experienced ninja tried to avoid spending too much time within its confines if they could help it.

Thankfully for her, these exams more than constituted 'special circumstances' so she'd at least get a little entertainment if nothing else. She also had to admit there was a bit of curiosity in regards to which teams would make it past her playground, she didn't have a genin team for... personal reasons, but she'd spent enough time around her colleagues to know they had high hopes for their brats.

"Welcome to The Forest of Death, home to all the creepiest crawlies you mind can imagine but more important than that, this will be your new home for the next five days!" She announced with her usual sadistic grin and already she could see many teams recoiling at her revelation their soft little faces scrunching up in distaste or fear.

They were kinda cute in a dopey way, like a baby deer in the presence of a wolf.

"Don't go having a fit just yet I haven't even told you what you'll be doing." She said calling their attention back to her. "Unlike your first test, I'd like to think this will be much more straight forward. Your task is simple, you have five days to make it to the heart of the forest where you will find a tower. If you make it there in one piece, or multiple pieces doesn't really matter to me, then you are pretty much golden." She admitted and she watched quite a few teams breathe a sigh of relief at the relatively mild task assigned to them. Such a shame she'd have to throw a wrench into those plans~

"But..." She had to hold back a laugh at the sight of a few contestants vehemently cursing under their breaths at her continued speech. "There is a bit more to this that I need to explain." She reached into her coat and the assembled group watched as she pulled out two scrolls that she held up for them to see.

There was nothing particularly fancy about them other than the kanji for 'Heaven' printed on one, while the kanji for 'Earth' was printed on the other.

"Each team will be given one of these two scrolls, you will need to collect the scroll opposite to the one given to you and bring _both _to the tower in order to pass this section of the exam. So if you show up with no scrolls or two Heaven scrolls than you aren't passing" She said and the teams began eyeing each other up as the reality of this part of the test asserted itself...

If they wanted to pass they would have to fight at least one other team and if they were unlucky, multiple teams to obtain the needed scrolls. Basically, any sense of comradery was just put into jeopardy...

"Also I'd heavily advise against being too nosey and opening your scroll, I can't stop you of course but since I am a nice person I figured I give you a heads up." She said offering a somehow threatening yet earnest smile to the group. "Any questions?"

"What happens if we do open the scroll?" One team asked.

"If you want to know so badly then you'll just have to make that choice when you get in there." She shrugged giving nothing away. "My advice is optional so do as you please really." If they wanted to open the scrolls than that was their choice, not hers. They had their instructions but what they did was them was out of her hands.

"What are we supposed to do for food?..." Choji asked no looking forward to spending five days without access to his favorite snacks and restaurants.

"It's a forest brat, I'm sure you'll find something to munch on... or perhaps something will munch on you? Guess we'll find out in five days if you're still around." She chuckled ignoring the depressed sigh the Akimichi heir let out at her answer.

A tall and somewhat pale kunoichi from Grass stepped forward and raised her hand grabbing Anko's attention. "Forgive my somewhat morbid question Proctor-san, but... will killing be allowed during this part of the exam?" She asked curiously and the rest of the teams who'd previously been murmuring amongst themselves fell into a tense hush at the grim but fair question turning to their proctor for an answer.

Anko tilted her head and gave an amused glance towards the kunoichi who'd asked before laughing. "You're an eager one huh? But, to answer your question..." She paused for a bit of suspense before continuing. "You are free to deal with your competition as you see fit. Spare them at your own risk or kill as your heart desires, just collect your scrolls and make it to the tower in time." She answered with a chuckle crossing her arms underneath her bust. "So long as you manage that, I could care less how you do it."

From his position in the back, Naruto frowned as dark whispers broke out amongst the teams and small bursts of killing intent could be felt as each group tried to warn others to stay away at their own peril or began targeting other groups.

It seemed like if you had a bone to pick with someone this would be the place to do it... already he could see some teams eyeing each other up and he didn't miss a few of them looking their way either. He glanced over towards the other rookies and could see they'd also given into the grim atmosphere somewhat. Even if they weren't actively seeking to harm anyone they now had to be on the lookout for anyone who might have a grudge against their family names or just wanted to remove the competition.

Off in the distance, he spotted the team from Suna looking no worse for wear at the knowledge, hell if anything the two he didn't know seemed almost resigned to some unknown but grizzly fate, their faces set into deep frowns as they waited for further instructions. The real centerpiece was Risa who seemed to be wearing a _genuine _smile of contentment at the new development, her own killing intent seemed to be smothering those who strayed too close to the group causing teams to shuffle away in fear.

She caught his gaze in her own and for a split second the rest of the world faded away... it was just the two of them, alone. Risa's calm facade seemed to momentarily melt away before him and her face twisted and warped into a malicious grin, one that screamed for death and pain. He answered his with a grin of his own, one of challenge. Daring her to test herself against him and she positively beamed with malice, he could see her lips moving but the words escaped him, not that he needed them. She would find him, one way or another that much he knew. The question was would he be ready when she did?...

Anko coughed and he was broken from his trance, the world fading back in interrupting their moment for the time being.

"I think we've covered everything so let's get on with the test. Head over to desks over there to receive your assigned starting location and either a Heaven or Earth scroll. You all will need to sign the waiver form that will be handed out or you won't be able to take this test." She informed.

"What's the waiver for?" Ino asked curiously.

"Nothing big." Anko shrugged her shoulders. "We just need your signature saying that you consented to take the test in the event of your untimely death." She supplied cheerfully causing the Yamanaka to scowl somewhat at the carelessness their lives were being treated with, she knew the risk was always a factor but this was a bit much.

Any more questions?" She asked but when she received no answers she smiled and crossed her arms. "Very good, alright then go pick up your scrolls and get to your assigned areas, the test will begin the moment the gates open. If you leave the forest for any reason not sanctioned by an instructor or the resident Kage you will be immediately disqualified." She finished.

"Good luck!" She cheered before with a wave she vanished in a small puff of smoke.

The assembled teams shot each other some final looks before they began filing over to the tents to pick up their scrolls.

_They were on their own now._

_..._

* * *

"Here you go, good luck you three and be careful."

"We will do our best, thank you!" Sakura smiled and took their teams scroll from one of the chunin in charge of getting the teams sorted, their gate number was attached to the dull-colored parchment and so they quickly began making their way over to it, passing a few teams who were already waiting anxiously by their assigned gates.

"So, any thoughts on this part of the exam?" He asked quietly making sure to keep an eye out for any teams that might have been too much attention to them. "There is no way we're getting past here without a fight, ya know."

"You say that like it's a bad thing? If anything I figured you'd be excited to test yourself... unless perhaps you're getting cold feet?" She teased lightly shooting him a smug smirk look from her position at his side. "If you're afraid I'm sure Sakura and I can protect you, but it will cost you."

Sakura held back a small snort of amusement at the thought of their normally boisterous blond hiding in fear behind the two of them. The idea was comically impossible but then again nothing in their line of work seemed impossible now so perhaps it could happen...

She would need to see about getting a camera just on the off chance, the opportunity to tease the normally composed and carefree blond was too good an opportunity to let slip by. Plus it would be payback for all the insane training he'd put her through!

He rolled his eyes and bumped the Uchiha heiress slightly with his arm. "If anything _I'll_ be the one doing the protecting here, just be thankful I'm so kind that I'll do it for free." He drawled sending his own smirk at the raven-haired kunoichi who stared challengingly back at him.

"We'll see, idiot." She scoffed but her words had no bite and they could tell everything was just in the spirit of good fun. "But to your question, I'm not worried. I doubt any of our classmates will come after us and the other Konoha teams don't look all that impressive." She admitted bluntly causing the two of them to chuckle a bit.

"I don't know enough about any of these foreign teams to make a call... those Sound genin that attacked Kabuto might be troublesome but they don't really have a reason to go after us specifically." She noted after a bit of thought.

"What about the team from Suna? What do you think of them?" He asked queitly and from her position in the front Sakura frowned, already catching onto the blond's concern the image of one red headed devil being conjured in her mind.

"You wouldn't be asking me that if there wasn't something off about them." They had been a team long enough for her to know the blond had a motive behind his question. "Are they a team we need to watch out for?" She pushed, taking a moment to scan the surrounding area for the group in question catching only a brief glance at the trio before they were obscured by the moving bodies of the crowd.

"I wouldn't say their team is the concern but rather their leader." He answered back keeping his own lookout. "It seems she's taken an interest in me, why I don't know but it isn't hard to tell that she has less than friendly intentions." He informed quietly. If he was going to be hunted by anyone than his team needed to know in advance.

"You wouldn't have brought this up if you thought you could handle it... how bad are we talking?" She questioned. She knew her teammate was more than capable of handling himself even before they'd been put through Kakashi's hellish training if he was concerned about an opponent...

"Possibly worse than Zabuza." He answered immediately not an ounce of hesitation in his voice. "Maybe not in terms of raw skill but..." He paused trying to find the best way to express the feeling he got from the redheaded Suna kunoichi. "I can't really describe it but she's dangerous, probably one of the most dangerous people in these exams." He admitted openly.

"So how do you want to play this then?" She would defer to his judgment seeing as he had always taken up the role of leader. "Should we try and take her down now or focus on avoiding her?"

"I say we avoid her." Sakura swiftly threw in her two cents since the topic was on the board. "We don't know what she's capable of and we'll be locked in a free for all setting. Even if we win all we end up doing is making ourselves an easy target." She supplied as they finally arrived at the gate marked out for them. She had no interest in running into the red haired Suna-nin without some assurance of safety this was the last place in the world she wanted to do so.

"I agree." He nodded along at Sakura's logic. "For right now let's avoid the Suna team at all costs until we have a better idea of how they fight and how well we match up against them." There was no point in them taking unnecessary risks if they didn't have to, Kakashi had beat that into their heads and they weren't about to ignore such advice.

With at least one active goal in mind they settled in by their gate and waited for the all-clear, a jarring buzzing noise echoed throughout the clearing and the once sealed chain-link gate swung wide open beckoning them into the jaws of the forest. All manner of beasts and trials awaited them within and for a moment they hesitated before calming themselves and pushing forward.

They would succeed that much was a promise.

* * *

"Hold up."

Team Seven paused and held their position in the trees, they'd traveled in relative silence for about ten minutes making sure to attract as little attention as possible. Traveling along the ground was akin to suicide so they'd hung out in the thick canopy overhead, the dark green leaves and branches helping to shield their movement from any prying eyes that may have followed them this far out.

"Something wrong?" Satsuki asked, her sharingan bleeding to life in her eyes as she took a moment to scan their surroundings for any sign of movement or traps. "Why are we stopping?"

"We need to figure out how we want to approach this." He turned and gestured to his team to huddle in, they didn't want to be overheard after all. "Firstly now that we have some cover let's see what scroll we have." He looked to Sakura who nodded and quickly pulled out the item in question.

The scroll was nothing partially fancy, a bit larger than their hands and fairly thick it looked like almost any other scroll that could be found within the village. The only identifies of its importance was the dull white coloration it sported and the kanji for "Heaven" written on its side.

So they would need an Earth scroll to complete this part of the exam.

"Do we want to go on the offensive or do we want to try setting up some traps to do the work for us?" He questioned looking over the two. "We have five days in here so we should pace ourselves on the off chance we aren't very lucky."

They may have defaulted him to their leader but he wasn't arrogant enough not to seek their input on major decisions. Especially when their lives were possibly on the line.

"We aren't exactly a tracking unit so that makes hunting down other teams somewhat problematic." Sakura pointed out frowning as she considered their options. "You could use your clones to scout but if there are any sensor-nin out there your clones are easy targets and they could use them to find you and by extension us."

"What's the alternative though?" Satsuki crossed her arms and thought for a moment. "We could wait and see if we get attacked but that means we aren't setting the terms of the fight, assuming we even get attacked at all."

"We could rush to the center tower and set up an ambush." He suggested. "I don't doubt that some of the other teams will have the same idea and so we'll likely catch a few of them setting up their own traps if we rush over now." If that plan worked they would be in a prime position to swoop in grab their paired scroll and enter the tower.

It would also mean that they could be easy pickings if they were ambushed while attacking another team. Each plan had its risk...

"Why not both, send out the scouts and if they can't find anything we'll be well on our way to the center tower to prepare an ambush when a team finally does show up." Sakura outlined. "If we're unlucky and a team does manage to catch up to us then we'll just have to handle it but it's better to be proactive than huddle up."

A lesson they'd learned well in Wave.

"Fair enough." He nodded and quickly summoned twenty-five clones, he gave them just enough chakra to sustain themselves but they weren't going to do any fighting so he kept it to a minimum. "You all have your orders, if you find a team try and observe them for a while and make a judgment call on their strength. If they seem like too much trouble try to find another team or dispell if you are about to be caught." He ordered the group of clones.

They nodded and without a word the hoard scattered off into the jungle, their sole objective clear.

"Shall we head to the tower then?" He asked, turning back to his teammates.

Sakura nodded but Satsuki held off. "What if we get separated? How we will know one of us wasn't attacked and replaced?" She questioned causing the two to pause at the concern. She had a point, while it wouldn't be ideal if they were all separated they would need some way of verifying their identities.

"Should we make some kind of passcode then?" Sakura asked. "It would have to be something that we can remember but not something that just anyone could put together though."

"Any ideas?"

He thought for a moment, a code that they could remember but would be almost completely unique to them...

"What about..." He paused for a moment to run thought it before he continued. "The seventh flame birthed light from dark, shattering the executioner's blade, and in its wake rose the bright blossom of a tide's freedom." He recited the line to his team who ran it through in their minds and found it fitting.

"That's... actually not that bad." Sakura admitted with a nod, it took a lot of their identity as a team but required an understanding of all the events they'd gone through to fully deconstruct.

"Hn... it's okay I suppose." Ever the mood killer Satsuki grunted her own approval of the phrase. "I suppose that'll be your intellectual contribution for the rest of the week then?" She snarked bemusedly causing Sakura to giggle quietly into her fist and Naruto to pout at the constant digs being taken at him.

"I'm so kicking your ass when we get out of here."He threatened, giving the heiress a stink eye while he grumbled under his breath.

"Hn, you can try."

"Let's focus on fighting the _other _teams for right now." Sakura quickly interjected, reigning in her laughter to keep the peace between them even though she doubted either of them was serious. "You two can beat each other up on your own time but we have an exam to complete." She reminded them

"Fine./Hn."

She rolled her eyes at their childish responses but smiled to herself seeing the two had relaxed somewhat, this test had them all on edge and she was happy to take whatever chances she could to soak in that sense of normalcy.

"Alright then, let's move out." He ordered and without another word they fell back into line and began moving towards the center of the forest, the only sign of their presence being the slight rustling of leaves that shuddered as they passed.

...

"They aren't as green as we thought." A garbled and heavily distorted voice called out from the shadows. "Rookies no doubt, but this might be harder than we expected." The voice noted.

"It changes nothing." A second voice, equally as distorted, spoke up from higher in the canopy. "They think they are in control but like all pretenders, they'll crumble on their own." It was hard to make out any emotion in the speaker's mangled voice but to those that knew what to look for they would hear a clear malic in their words.

"No changes then?" A third, more jovial voice chimed in from somewhere near the forest floor.

"No, we'll stick to the same plan but I don't think we'll be able to do this as quietly... shame but they'll learn a valuable lesson." The second voice chuckled darkly from the shadows.

"There is always a bigger fish out there."

...

Team Seven had made decent time, they still didn't seem to be anywhere near their intended destination which given the time table of the test made sense, but so far they had run into zero resistance which was both a blessing in some ways and a curse in others.

On one hand that meant they were still fresh and ready to spring into action if need be which would serve them well if they ran into an already weakened team. On the other hand, they hadn't yet had the chance to try and grab a Heaven scroll which meant they couldn't advance regardless, even if they made it through unscathed.

"Still no word from the scouts?" Sakura asked from the rear.

"I got a few hits but they are other Konoha teams, specifically Team Ten and two other groups I'm not familiar with." He informed causing the two to frown slightly. They knew that this was technically an 'every team for themselves' exercise but they didn't really want to attack any allied teams if they could help it. They would if they absolutely _had _to but they'd rather avoid it if possible.

He quickly summoned another batch of clones and sent them out to aid in the search. His control had improved quite a bit with Kakashi's help and he barely noticed his reserves dipping, not that he found the jutsu to be taxing before but he used to at least notice the pull on his reserves. Now, unless he was paying attention it didn't even register to him.

"How far out from the tower do you think we are?" Satsuki questioned.

"Hard to say" He shrugged. "This place can only be so big given it's considered a training ground, but for all we know it could still be tucked away way deeper that we'd expect." He rationalized.

"Tsk..." Satsuki scowled to herself but nodded, she'd hoped one of his clones might have headed out ahead of them but it appeared not. They would just have to play the waiting game...

_Thunk!_

A dull almost silent thud halted Team Seven in their tracks, a noise that under normal circumstances they would have ignored but these were _not _normal circumstances. They paused and waited, from the back Sakura quietly slipped a kunai into her hands and Satsuki's chakra flared slightly within her awaiting command.

Naruto frowned and channeled a slight amount of chakra to his ears, a trick Kakashi had taught them to improve their senses. An Inuzuka would still run circles around them but it was still a useful trick for any ninja to have during moments like these.

_hissssssssssssssssss..._

His eyes widened at the faint but dangerously familiar noise and he rounded on his teammates, the words spilling out of his mouth before his mind could even register them as adrenaline spiked through his veins.

**"SCATTER, NOW!"**

They didn't hesitate each member throwing themselves as far from their initial position as possible, and just it time as well.

_**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

The branches they'd previously been standing on quickly went up in a ball of flames, the concussive force from the blast slamming into each of them as they were sent careening to the earth by the stunning shockwave. The trees around them swayed angrily at the abrupt battering but the explosion wasn't nearly enough to knock down let alone dent thick trunks.

From the shadows, three figures emerged chuckling at their success. "Divide and conquer boys." The tallest of the three barked and with a subtle gesture they each broke off in pursuit of one member from the now scattered team.

They had a scroll to retrieve.

_**-With Satsuki-**_

Satsuki scowled as she surveyed her new position on the forest floor, checking herself over she felt some relief that she hadn't suffered any major burns or injuries from the blast but she had hit a few branches on the way down which hadn't been the most pleasurable experience. Nothing that she couldn't handle but now she was sore and pissed off.

_Thunk!_

She tilted her head just in time to avoid being nailed between the eyes, a few strands of her ebony locks fell to the floor by her side, by her ear a steel-tipped bolt had dug itself deep into the wooden trunk of the tree she'd been leaning against. She spared it a passing glance and clicked her teeth.

Someone was out for blood it seemed.

"Well aren't you a twitchy one?" A garbled voice chuckled and she quickly steadied herself for a fight. "I tried to make it quick and painless but I guess you just can't help people these days." Her hidden attacker snarked mockingly from the canopy.

"Quick and painless you say?" She scoffed but kept her guard up knowing she was at a disadvantage. "Sounds more like you were just hoping to get a lucky kill and so you tried to take us out like a coward." She sneered allowing her usual 'holier than thou' attitude to sneak into her words. "But I guess even that was too much to ask of you."

_Fwap!_

She smirked as yet another bolt flew harmless past and knew that she'd touched a nerve.

"You're a mouthy bitch aren't you?" The voice called out and even though the distortion she could almost feel barely restrained anger in their words. "You think you're strong but you are at my mercy!"

"You say that yet it's you who's running around in the shadows, trying to pick off scraps like some kind of scavenger." She retorted crossing her arms as she said so her stance slacking, almost as though she couldn't be asked to take this seriously. "You're nothing but a weakling, and you'll never be anything more than that." She taunted with a lazy smirk. "The world will forget you, just as it forgets all weaklings." She finished.

"I'll show you weak you bitch!"

She was forced to quickly roll out of the way as a blurry figure leaped down from the dense canopy above and pounced on her position. She leaped back, making some needed distance while her eyes shifted from dark onyx to vibrant crimson as she finally laid eyes upon her attacker.

A male, likely a little older than she was by perhaps a year or two, dressed in a full-body yellow jumpsuit, the upper half of his face was wrapped up in some kind of cloth with a single eyehole on his left while a headband with the symbol of Ame was slung over his head. Wrapped around his jaw looked to be some kind of rebreather which would explain the garbled voice. In his hands, he held a wooden crossbow with a holster strapped to his backfilled with ammunition for it.

She raised an eyebrow at the strange-looking shinobi who was glaring at her with hate in his sole eye. Odd how he tried to kill them but now wanted to be offended.

"I think I'm beginning to understand why you hide yourself, I can't blame you." She taunted looking over her opponent with thinly veiled mockery unintimidated by the rage in his glare.

"I'm going to have fun breaking you." He growled leveling his crossbow at her. "The Uchiha line finished off in some backend forest, fitting don't you think? You can waste away here forgotten like the rest of your kin!" He sneered taking a jab at the tragedy of her family line. "Tell them Mubi sent you!" He cackled flexing his finger on the trigger of his crossbow.

Her eyes narrowed and she clicked her teeth in annoyance her hands falling loosely to her hips as she glared at his slightly hunched over figue. "Such arrogance, let me tell you something very important-" She began her eyes closing as though pulling upon knowledge buried deep within her mind, a move that left her open.

Something that he would happily exploit.

_Fwap! Thunk!_

"_Urk!..._"

Mubi grinned savagely beneath his mask as the Uchiha heiress stumbled back, her hands flying up to her chest where a thick, steel bolt was now firmly embedded about halfway into her flesh. Just mere inches away from her heart, he took no end of glee in the expression of shock and pain cycling through those crimson eyes of hers. How the mighty had fallen!

"I told you, you talk too much." He jeered now unafraid of stepping closer to the now downed heiress savoring her choked screams and spasms. "You called me pathetic but look at you, you didn't even put up a fight! The last of the loyal and feared Uchiha clan didn't even throw a punch" He laughed and smashed his bow into her face sending her sprawling to the floor with a sickening crack of crunching bone. "What was that you wanted to say?" He asked sarcastically, reaching down grabbing her roughly by the hair to stare her directly in the face.

She looked at him mutely for a few moments her lips moving but the words failed to pass through, the blood running down her now busted lips and bent nose only incited him further but he allowed himself to show some measure of restraint if only to savor the moment. Her breathing was slow and the rattle of death seemed to shake at her lithe body with every pained gasp.

Her mouth parted one more and he leaned in close to hear her final words, to claim his prize as the one to have partially ended the Uchiha line. They would sing his praises back in Ame!

"Only an Uchiha can truly eclipse another Uchiha..." She choked out her one limp hands shooting forwards to clutch his wrist with a level of strength she shouldn't possess this close to death!

"And you don't even come close..." She croaked with a slight upturn of her lip.

He watched in confusion as the heiress in his grasp began to dissolve into dust before his eyes, her unflinching stare paralyzing him as four black tomoe spun lazily in her still ruby-colored orbs. Try as he might he couldn't look away from the hypnotizing sight... his body refusing to cooperate even as she faded from view, becoming nothing more than ashes in the wind. His wrists burned where she'd held him, as though shackles of hot iron had been clamped around him, searing the skin as if to brand him.

_Schlick..._

A sharp pain erupted abruptly in his chest, the shine of metal stained with blood gleaming softly in the reflection of his sole eye as his head dropped. The sharp point of a kunai greeted his sight, the killing blade driven cleanly between his lungs and peering out his jumpsuit, crimson rivers of blood dripping through the exit wound and turning the cloth around it an ugly shade of brown.

As if to add insult to injury he quietly noted she'd stabbed him where he'd shot her... how ironic...

"H-How?..." The words were barely audible through his rebreather, his arms trembled as he lightly took hold of the metal lodged firmly in his chest. The cold fingers of impending death gripped him, their icy touch digging through his skin into his very veins. How had this happened?! He'd killed her!

"The words would be wasted on you." She answered coldly from behind him, her fingers wrapped tightly around the hilt of her dagger. "You stepped above your station and this is the result." She stared unflinchingly down upon his slowly crumbling from, his crossbow abandoned on the bloodstained grass below as began to bleed out. "Be thankful I didn't drag out your suffering." She scoffed twisting the knife slightly sending shockwaves of agony through him.

He didn't detect any hint of remorse in those words of hers. She had no qualms with his death, he would a footnote in her memory at best and a forgotten relic in her memory at worst...

"Y-You can't!... I r-refuse to!..." The words died in his throat as he slowly choked on the bile and blood filling his chest cavity, unceremoniously falling to his knees, his single eye rolling into his head as he promptly hit the floor. His passing thoughts were lost in the jumble of fear and confusion he'd felt in his final moments but the piercing glare of glowing crimson eyes haunted him as darkness pulled him into its sweet embrace.

...

She sighed and allowed her sharingan to fade away as she approached the unconscious genin before her. She did little to hide her disappointment in just how easy it had been to overpower his mind, she hadn't even been all that subtle about it really, she was an Uchiha it was almost universally known not to look them eyes but it seemed her opponent had done little research before confronting her. The fight was over the moment he'd given in to her taunting locked eyes with her own.

She quickly searched his body and to her annoyance found nothing of value on him. So one of his teammates had their scroll...

"How annoying." She scowled and pocketed some supplies off of him while making sure to relieve him of his ammunition as well as crushing the crossbow under her heel. If he came after them again then she'd put him down permanently but for now he was not much of a threat and if he was smart he'd take this loss with some grace and bow out while he still had the chance.

"Those two better not keep me waiting." She huffed and made her way out of the clearing, what happened to him from here on was not her problem.

She had her own team to find.

_**-With Sakura-**_

"Well, that was... less than pleasant." She groaned, stretching out her body and inspecting herself for any injuries, the blast hadn't done much damage to her and other than a few scraps from her flight she was unharmed. "Now I have to find Naruto and Satsuki again." She huffed at the idea of trecking through this creepy forest on her own, not that she couldn't handle herself but the place just set her on edge and she'd rather not spend more time than she had to within it.

"I wouldn't worry about that bubble gum, you have bigger problems at the moment." A warped voice chuckled darkly from overhead causing her to snap to attention, her green eyes immediately locking onto the figure crouching on the branches above her.

A tall but rather thin male was sat jovially upon one of the thick branches that made up the verdant canopy. He was dressed in a full-body yellow jumpsuit and the upper half of his face was wrapped up in some kind of cloth, completely covering his eyes, while a headband with the symbol of Ame was tied around his forehead leaving his shaggy brown spiked locks on display. He sported some weird face covering that looked like a rebreather but she wasn't sure if that's exactly what it was.

"It's nothing personal but we can't have all this competition running around unchecked." He shrugged showing a rather laid back attitude despite his team's aggression. "If it makes you feel any better you at least lucked out getting me, I'm just here for your scroll. Give it up and I'll let you off the hook." He offered seemingly sincerely though she very much doubted his words held any truth to them as lying came as easy as breathing to many shinobi.

She narrowed her eyes studying him quietly for a few brief moments before finally addressing him.

"What makes you so sure I have it?" She asked making sure to keep her attention on him but watching for any ambushes or potential traps. "Either one of my teammates could have the scroll." she reasoned buying herself a bit more time to take note of her situation.

"We've been watching you for longer than you might think girly, we already know you're the one carrying it. Personally, you don't seem like much so why you were trusted with it is beyond me but hey, I'm not going to complain about an easy meal." He chuckled.

She couldn't make out his expression over his mask but she imagined he was smirking under it by the way he spoke, part of her was also tempted to ask how he'd know such a thing given that was currently blindfolded but decided against doing so for the sake of not antagonizing him just yet.

She could do that later.

"Well I'd like to pass so I'm going to have to decline your offer." She answered with her usual cheerful politeness but there was a firmness to her tone that made it clear that she would not be giving in to any of his demands if she could help it. "Now would you kindly step out of my way?" She demanded.

"You've got spirit pinkie." He laughed and shook his head, the sound made much more unsettling by his rasp of rebreather. "What's your name?" He questioned tilting his head in amusement at the younger genin.

"Haruno, Sakura."

"Well, Sakura-chan..." With a slight grunt, he hopped down onto the floor below and casually drew a sharpened kunai from his holster as he did so, spinning it by its ring before holding it in a reverse grip that made his intentions clear. "The names Kagari and I'm going to have to decline your request, now hand it over or else I'm going to have to hurt you." He growled losing his previously jovial tone, swapping it out for one more suited towards intimidation.

Her response?

With practiced ease she drew two kunai of her own, launching the first deadly accuracy before sprinting behind it her small frame just a hairs width behind the careening blade as she pumped chakra to her legs for an extra boost. Not expecting such an aggressive response from such a timid looking girl, her opponent was taken off guard and just barely managed to deflect the throwing knife and mount a shaky defense against her assault.

The sound of metal scraping against metal rung out through the small clearing as the pushed and stabbed at one another. Her momentum had granted her a slight advantage allowing her to push him back a bit and set the tone of the engagement. Back and forth the two tried to weave into and break the other guard with little success, being taller her opponent tried to make use of downward stabs but doing so left his vitals exposed and so he could not commit to his attacks

Finding this confrontation going nowhere the two clashed in a shower of sparks one last time before jumping back, eyeing each other cautiously now.

"Tsk, you just had to make this difficult?" He growled looking for any openings in her stance. "Is your life really worth your scroll?"

Sakura grinned not at all shaken by his words. "If I thought my life was _actually _in danger then maybe not." She admitted sending a less than subtle jab his way while quietly preparing herself for her next move. Without being able to see his facial features she had a hard time getting a read on how he was feeling but she could hazard a guess that he probably wasn't a fan of her mockery.

"Let me change your tune then!" He shouted running quickly through a series of hand signs as his chakra flared violently around him.

"_**Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu!"**_

Sakura watched with annoyance as their small battleground was filled with copies of her opponent, she was surrounded on every side and with no clear way to tell the clones apart from her enemy she had to assume that any of them could be the real one.

"What's the matter bubble gum, need a little help?" Her adversary mocked, his voice echoed throughout the clearing making it difficult to pinpoint where exactly he was speaking from. She cursed quietly to herself that his unique appearance made discerning even facial movements almost impossible before clicking her teeth and tossing her remaining kunai at the nearest clone. She watched with bated breath as the throwing knife careened towards the first copy before passing harmlessly through it as though it wasn't there at all, its form flickering for a brief moment before solidifying again.

"Oooh! Better luck next time girlie try again!" He laughed still hidden from sight but she paid no attention to his taunting, her focus was now on the kunai buried into the earth a few feet away from her original target.

_These aren't solid clones, this might as well be the standard bunshin technique. If that's the case then this is just a diversion! Having me waste my time on the copies than striking when I'm at my weakest._

He fought like a true shinobi if nothing else and if she'd fought him before and wasn't used to dealing with clones than maybe this would have worked.

_Now though?_

Channeling her chakra she flashed through her own set of seals, she gathered the molded energy to her hands which took on a dark almost metallic-like sheen before slamming them into the earth with a shout of defiance.

_**Earth Style: Shattering Strike!**_

The ground beneath her feet ruptured and rumbled as her chakra surged through the now upheaved earth below, dirt and debris flying hazardously through the air as the once flat terrain was violently upended. Large cracks and small fissures reached out from the epicenter that rocked the surrounding landscape like a localized earthquake.

The clones remained unaffected by the sudden shifting of the earth below them, the torn up remains of dirt and stone passing through their forms like fish through water as they remained nearly motionless in their places.

All but one.

"_GAH!_" Sakura watched as one of the many 'clones' towards the back was abruptly sent flying outward by the shockwave of her attack, his flailing form sent high into the air before he collided with a nearby tree with a harsh thud, the sound his back slamming into the sturdy wood made her wince slightly but she pushed her concerns down.

He was an enemy and she would treat him as such.

Before he could regain his bearings she swiftly drew another kunai and with pinpoint accuracy launched it towards his stunned form, the throwing knife cut through the air and this time reached its target unhindered, sinking deep into the Ame-nin's thigh with a wet squelch accompanied by a small spurt of blood that now leaked hazardously from his leg.

"Fuck!" He screamed, momentarily forgetting the pain in his back in favor of the knife in his leg. His rebreather made his panic all the more harrowing but she didn't flinch and instead pressed her advantage. Ignoring his shouting she walked up and grabbed him by his collar, before slamming her still shining fist directly into his face, her knuckles digging into the side of his face like a freight train easily dislodging his rebreather which fell lamely to the floor in a dented bloodstained heap.

She snorted to herself as his body slumped in her grip, he was still breathing but he was going to feel like crap when he woke up, she'd probably just dislocated his jaw with that but at least he'd live. Assuming nothing ate him while he was asleep but that was not her problem.

She blinked owlishly at that rather blase thought. "Maybe they've rubbed off on me a bit too much..." She mumbled but shrugged off the concern in favor of searching her now downed opponent for his scroll but frowning when she failed to find it.

"Of course you don't have it, why would you." She huffed annoyed that other than getting a bit of action that this whole endeavor had proven mostly pointless.

She supposed it was up to her teammates then.

_**-With Naruto-**_

"It's official, this test sucks and becoming a chunin is completely overrated." He growled to himself removing a few twigs and leaves that had caught a ride in his hair during his flight. Okay, maybe he was being a bit harsh but in fairness, this was total crap. Genjutsu, mind games, killer forests, and now random explosions! He swore if he didn't get promoted after all of this...

"Then you won't mind if we just end your run here then?" A guttural voice drawled from the shadows.

He quickly silenced his complaining to take stock of the new arrival, an average if somewhat disheveled-looking male dressed in a stitched up full-body yellow jumpsuit. The upper half of his face was wrapped up in some kind of cloth with two holes cut out for the eyes, while a headband with the symbol of Ame was tied around his forehead and a thick bushel of brown spiked locks on display. On his face a metal rebreather that shined slightly in the dim rays of sunlight peeking through the canopy as he shuffled out of the dark and into sight.

"I wasn't being literal ya know?" He snarked already preparing himself for a confrontation. "You look like someone that should understand sarcasm... well at least from the parts of you that aren't wrapped up anyway." He chuckled keeping up an aloof persona while subtly eyeing up the Ame-nin ready for the faintest hint of aggression.

His unknown assailant let out a rattling laugh of his own, his lanky form hunching over in open amusement. "A comedian, my favorite... I almost feel bad about attacking you now." Despite his words, Naruto didn't particularly believe the teen held any regrets over his actions.

"If you feel so bad about it then just turn around and we can go our separate ways, I've forgiven people for worse things than just trying to blow me up." He shrugged with a foxy grin. He was being honest too, it wasn't like this was the worst thing an enemy had tried to do to him.

"Tempting but I think we both know one of us isn't leaving this clearing blondie." His words were punctuated by a quick burst of killing intent that washed over him trying vainly to subjugate the blond under its weight. "And I think today is my lucky day." He snarled with contempt.

His smile was slowly replaced with a frown as he silently considered his opponent's words. "Is that really your final answer?" He asked evenly, there was neither anger nor fear in his voice just a steady resolve.

He felt a less than subtle increase in the pressure pushing against him as the sound of two kunai being drawn and heavy footsteps rushing forward assaulted his ears. "Do you really even have to ask!" The Ame-nin laughed wildly as he closed the gap between the two leaping into the air with blades drawn, gleaming metal poised to embed itself in unresisting flesh.

Naruto did nothing, nothing but watch impassively as his would-be killer descended upon him with gleeful hatred shining in his dark eyes, his instruments of death clenched tightly in his firsts as he grew closer with clear intent.

Once warm, sunny blue eyes quickly frosted over into frigid, ice-cold chips. The soft click of air passing through teeth rang quietly beneath a calm breath of resignation.

"So be it..." He whispered.

And just like that, he vanished. His once still form simply blinking out of existence like a candle flame being blown out. Oboro's eyes widened as he was left to crash harshly into the earth just barely managing to shift his body in time to avoid eating dirt and instead managed to send himself tumbling back onto his feet kunai drawn in a mixture of confusion.

There was no sign of the blond.

"What the?!..." Oboro's eyes widened in confusion as he scanned the now empty clearing for any sign of his opponent. His confidence quietly shaken by the tall blond's sudden disappearance. "Where the hell did you go you bastard?!"

"You're getting on my nerves."

The Ame-nin was unprepared for the knee that swiftly planted itself in his stomach, the blow relieving him of all the air he thought he owned as he was forced to the floor in a heap. Through gritted teeth, he just barely managed to come face to face with the whiskered genin who stared down upon him like trash to be disposed of. Cold blue eyes judging him beneath their gaze.

"I don't have the time for this so just rest quietly, please."

Another blow to the face sent his neck snapping back as his teeth smashed and rattled together at the sheer force being imparted upon him. The world around him blurred and his vision faded as he was treated to savage strike after savage strike, his once prideful from brought low by the seemingly never-ending assault.

At this rate he was ee was going to be beaten to death, broken beneath the fists of another…

His resolve crumbled alongside his body as he was forced to kiss the dirt after one, particularly harsh blow. For a moment he wasn't sure where the pain started and where it ended but there was a reprieve that granted him just enough time to gather his most surface thoughts and the smallest scraps of strength, enough to raise his head and look upon the shadow of his opponent who was looking down upon him with neither anger nor hate in those fridged blue eyes. Emotions he would have expected to find given the ferocity of the beating he was receiving.

Instead, he found only pity... and somehow that only made it all worse.

He could only stare in muted horror as blazing blue waves of energy erupted from and consumed the blond's right arm, bathing the area in an azure glow as a new and suffocating pressure fell upon him. It was like staring into an inferno one that threatened to consume all in its path as it twisted and writhed like fire in the wind...

"M-Mercy…" He wheezed but the words fell upon deaf ears and the light grew more intense before descending upon him like the hammer of God filling his fading vision with the brightest of light before darkness took him into its own silent embrace.

He was out like a light at impact which was small mercy given his body was embedded in the now splintered and fractured trunk of one of the many thick trees surrounding them, the white of his eyes signaling blissful unconsciousness.

Naruto stared impassibly at the broken body of his attacker for a few moments before letting out a sigh and allowing himself to relax. He felt a twinge of remorse for his actions but the older genin had left him no choice, he could not afford to endanger his team or jeopardize their chances of success in these exams.

"Let's see if you have a scroll on you." He muttered to himself approaching the defeated shinobi cautiously.

They still had a test to finish after all.

...

..

.

"Kukukuk... what fine specimens indeed~"

* * *

**AN. Chapter Complete!**

**I want to apologize for how long this took to come out, it has nothing to do with what I talked about at the end of the last chapter so no fears there. I've just been really busy with my college classes on top of my new job which have both left me very drained and lacking in much if any free time which of course makes my preference for longer chapters more difficult. I know I could shorten chapters but I think my longer style just fits how I write better so I am sorry about that!**

**Anyway, let's talk about this chapter!**

**So, this wasn't really meant to be a big chapter plot-wise but rather to give some insight on how the two-month skip has changed Team Seven both in their team dynamic and power/skill-wise. As a team, I think it's obvious that they have finally found their rhythm so to speak where they have come to trust one another and there aren't these hidden walls between them. Sakura is much more integrated into the dynamic, Satsuki is much more open and relaxed, and Naruto helps push his team without being overbearing and is able to really engage positively with his team with all the tension from previous chapters.**

**The other side was power.**

**Now with the power I've stressed, I don't want characters to feel OP. I like an OP Naruto story just as much as anyone else does but they are difficult to write in terms of making threats feel dangerous without being unrealistically strong or cheap. As such fights have never been really been cakewalks for any characters, which on one hand does avoid the power creep that I fear but on the other hand it almost makes the training feel somewhat redundant if fights are **_**always **_**going to be close no matter how hard a character trains.**

**So I'm trying to show a tangible boost in power that feels natural without going wild with it. This is why these fights were so short, they were less about creating fight scenes and more about showing how much more powerful each member of Team Seven is and what new skills they've picked up while not revealing the full extent of what they can do since we will have plenty of time for that in this arc.**

**Of course, the rest of the rookies haven't been slacking and we'll see that as well.**

**So moving onto how the characters have grown, let's talk about what they showed off and why I took the route that I did.**

**Sakura:**

**Sakura received a more general buff as opposed to a specialty skill since of the three she was the weakest going into the training even if she was improving. I decided I wanted to get her into a better place combat wise and seeing that she will have a very specific specialty in the future I felt comfortable leaving her with some new Earth Style techniques and better combat performance. Her current style is a more defensive-oriented attack style but she will be no slouch in regards to offensive abilities.**

**And yes she is making use of the "**_**Iron Shell**_**" technique I thought up from the Bingo Book entry in chapter 3. I liked the concept and I have some fun ideas for expanding her use of it later.**

**Satsuki:**

**I had to be careful with Satsuki because she was already in a very good place at the end of Wave with her existing arsenal and her newly awakened eyes. So instead of focusing on her physical abilities and jutsu (though she has improved in those areas as well), I decided to have her lean into Genjutsu a bit. Genjutsu is actually my favorite of ninja arts since I am very fond of illusions and I think it's fitting for her to try a way of fighting that avoids wasting her time. How good she'll get with genjutsu I'm not fully sure but she will likely at least have a talent for it.**

**Naruto:**

**Naruto probably got the shortest and least clear reveal of his skills which was actually kind of the point. Obviously, we say he was working on speed last time we saw him and he's shown that he's much faster here but by how much... well that you'll just have to wait and see. He was already very physically strong so that wasn't surprising and his use of his massive reserves to bolster that is the prequel to a future idea I have for him but that's not until Shippuden so we won't see that here. His attitude in combat is also something I'm developing as I want him to be a bit more serious in battles but at the same time I still want him to lean into his enjoyment of a good fight.**

**All three will be showing off a lot more during these exams and moving into the future but hopefully, this gave you a small glimpse as to where these three might be headed!**

**The opponents where Team Oboro who worked as good fodder for them, I did change their personalities somewhat but I don't think anyone really remembers enough about them to care but if so I'm sorry they aren't exactly faithful recreations.**

**Lastly, I will be talking about the Harem and Romance in general for this fic:**

**Starting off with the Tayuya vs. Samui choice I left you in the last chapter as of writing it looks like Tayuya staying is probably going to win. Many of you liked Samui but more people seemed to want Tayuya. The voting isn't over by any means so you are more than free to keep voting since the final decision likely won't be made until we really see Tayuya (Not in this Arc).**

**The other thing I wanted to talk about was how I wanted to slowly ramp up the pace of the romances in this fic. I've talked about this before but I mentioned that from around the middle of the Chunin exams going forward I wanted to start really pulling the harem together and so you might notice that in later chapters. That said, I'm still committed to my rule of putting characterization first over romance so you don't need to worry about any of the girls suddenly losing all form of personality that isn't centered on Naruto. I just want to actually get a few of the girls at least giving signals if not outright stating their intentions.**

**I was also going to talk about my final stance regarding the possibilities of lemons in this fic but this AN is already long enough so I will do that next time or in a small update chapter.**

**I hope you all enjoyed and I once again apologize for how long this took, I don't know when the next chapter will go up since I plan to write one chapter for my other fic "The Hero's Journey" before coming back to this. If you have questions or concerns as always feel free to review (not a guest review I can't reply to those) or PM me! **

**Take care and I'll see you all next time!**


	26. Chapter 26

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing but enjoy none the less.**_

**Hello! I am back with yet another chapter and it didn't take me like four months lol. Before we begin, I just want to save a massive thank you 1000 followers! I know there are stories with way more than that but it still means a lot to know that 1000 people considered this fic worth following. It's the first story of mine to reach that far goal so I can't help but be a tad bit emotional haha.**

**Anyway, I won't keep you, I hope you enjoy the chapter and I will see you all at the bottom like always!**

* * *

"Well, that was an utter waste of time."

Satsuki's dissatisfied muttering brought the now regrouped trio back to the present as they continued their journey into the forest. It hadn't taken them long to track each other down and exchange stories of their encounters before heading back out, the ambush had been a minor setback at worst and even then it wasn't like they'd walked away empty-handed.

"Maybe, but at least we got another scroll out of it." Sakura's newfound optimism shined bright as always as she tried to see the silver lining of their current situation. "Better than walking away with nothing." She pointed out cheerfully.

The heiress scoffed.

"It's not even the scroll we need, if they were going to attack us they could have at the very least made it worth our while." She scowled, she hated a lot of things but most of all she hated weaklings that wasted her time. Well, she hated her brother more but they were a close second in her eyes.

From the front, Naruto chuckled at the little back and forth between the girls partially Satsuki's annoyance, though internally he agreed with the Uchiha heiress he could still see the value in having an extra Heaven scroll. "Sakura has a point, at least with two scrolls we have a back up in the worst-case scenario and a possible a bartering chip if we run into another less hostile team." He reasoned.

"Tsk, whatever." She knew they had a point but that didn't make her any less frustrated with the result. "Have you got any leads on the other teams?" She asked shifting the conversation back towards their primary goal.

He nodded. "I've got a few hits on some teams that aren't too far out but I'm not sure what scrolls they have on them so we'd be going in blind." He said relaying what information he'd managed to gather from his scouts, so far he'd tracked down Team Ten and Team Eight though he made a mental note to try and keep away from the later since he didn't want to draw their attention if he could help it. He'd also managed to catch sight of a few other teams that seemed like easy pickings so they had a few options.

"Should we make our ways towards the nearest group or keep moving forward towards the tower?" Sakura questioned as the group came to a halt to discuss their next move. "We may get lucky if we try for an ambush early on." She suggested offering her input.

"We may also get another copy of a scroll we already have though." Satsuki was quick to point out the risk of attacking blindly. "Then again the more we hoard the less there are for other teams to take so it might be worth it." She admitted, crossing her arms in contemplation as she glanced between her teammates.

"We're still only in day one..." He closed his eyes as he considered their options. "What are the chances of many teams actually succeeding in gathering both scrolls and making it to the tower by the end of the first day?"

"Probably fairly low since they gave us five days to take this test." Sakura guessed scrunching her brow in thought as she went over the numbers in her head. "So, are you saying that it might be better for us to go on the attack instead of hanging near the tower?"

"Possibly, setting up traps near the tower will no doubt be helpful but taking out the competition or at the very least delaying them can only benefit us in the long run." He answered looking to them for their thoughts on his suggestion.

"I'm up for it." Satsuki smirked her blood already pumping at the thought of proving herself, sure she'd have to dirty her hands with a few bits of trash but maybe some of them might prove worth the effort.

"It makes sense so if that's what you want to do then I guess we can." Sakura nodded along, her confidence in her abilities made the prospect of having to fight much less nerve-wracking than before and she'd long since resolved not to drag her team behind anymore so she would follow their lead as needed.

"Alright then, if we're all in agreement then let's get moving!" He grinned and they took off in the direction of the nearest hostile team, their forms obscured by the dense foliage around them as the blurred through the treetops.

Though had they looked hard enough they might have caught the twisted glare of sickly yellow eyes peering down upon them...

...

_**Water Style: Water Bullet!**_

"What the-_Gahhhh!_"

Naruto watched with a cheeky smirk as his opponent, a broody looking shinobi from Taki, was washed away by a pressurized jet of water being sent rocketing out of the clearing and into the iron-hard embrace of the gnarled trees knocking him unconscious and securing him an easy victory.

Behind him, Sakura had already succeeded in putting down her opponent with the ground surrounding her filled with potholes and small craters from her less than... subtle, method of fighting. Within the largest crater laid a rival kunoichi, still alive but more than a little battered from the pinkett's furious assault.

Meanwhile, Satsuki had restrained her opponent and was looking smugly upon her work, a rather plain-looking Taki-nin hung upside down wrapped from head to toe in ninja wire down swung gently back and forth in her makeshift web looking both physically and mentally exhausted. A far cry from the Uchiha heiress's almost pristine condition.

Leaving her hostage to his fate, she spun the dark-colored scroll she'd pilfered off him between her fingers as she made her way back over to her team more than a little pleased with herself. "Seems we finally caught a break." She smirked showing off their new Earth scroll.

"Finally..." Sakura's eyes shined with relief at their find as she made her way over to the Uchiha. "And to think it only took us four tries." She mumbled causing Naruto who'd followed behind her to snort in amusement.

"Five tries if you count that one team that just up and ran from us." He noted taking a look at the scroll within his raven-haired teammate's hand. It had taken a lot of work but at last, they had everything they needed to make it to the next phase, all that was left would be to take it to the tower and they would be home free.

"That doesn't count." Sakura huffed crossing her arms as they made their way out of the clearing. "You two almost turned this whole forest into a bonfire over some name calling!" She cried sending the pair a less than proud glare.

"_Urk!_...in my defense, they shouldn't have made fun of my whiskers, I'm sensitive about them..." He argued weakly, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly at her exasperated look while off to the side Satsuki merely turned her head in the smallest expression of shame she'd ever allow herself to make not even bothering to defend her actions. Sakura swore she heard mutterings of "not having a stick up her ass" coming from the dark kunoichi but she decided not to comment on it for her own sanity.

"You two are unbelievable..." She sighed rubbing the bridge of her nose trying to stem off the incoming migraine that came with having to keep up with annoyingly strong but occasionally temperamental teammates. She wondered if there was some kind of compensation for that...

"Moving on!" He interpreted trying vainly to shift her attention away from their little accident, which he had put out like a responsible person for the record! "We didn't do too bad, we did have to knock out some Konoha teams but for the most part I think we got this part of the exams in the bag." He grinned.

Not including the Ame ambush they'd taken down two Konoha teams, one team from Suna, one group form Kusa who fled due to... spontaneous forest fires, and finally a team from Taki. That left them with a total of three more Heaven Scrolls and one Earth scroll, a bit lopsided but they only needed one anyway so it all worked out in the end.

Sakura looked up into the sky checking to see how long they'd been in here, judging by the position of the sun it seemed that they had used up the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon hunting. They'd probably need to start thinking of setting up camp then heading out tomorrow for the tower unless they wanted to try their luck in their luck dark.

"Naruto, Satsuki..." She called out. "Do you think we should stop and start looking for a place to make camp? I don't think it's a good idea for us to try making the trip in the dark."

The duo paused and took a moment to see what she was talking about and winced as they realized just how much time they'd used up. Even though they were way ahead of the curve they didn't exactly want to spend more time than necessary within the forest if they didn't absolutely have to.

"She has a point, we probably should look for somewhere to set up for the night." He said with a small frown looking towards the Uchiha heiress who scowled but nodded along, she didn't like it but it was better to avoid being careless and slipping up.

"How long do you think we've got until we run out of light?" He asked,

Sakura hummed to herself for a moment before answering. "Not sure but I'd guess maybe three or four hours at best, it's hard to tell with all the leaves in the way." She answered giving her best guess.

"That's enough time, Sakura I'm going to send you with some clones to scout for a campsite, they'll help get us set up while you can see about looking for any wild berries or something to eat." He ordered summoning a small batch of clones who moved behind the pinkette. "Satsuki and I will see about hunting down any animals that might make for a meal, we can't afford to go into any fights starving."

Sakura grimaced a little bit about having to split up but nodded and set off with the band of clones as her side, vanishing from sight after a few moments leaving just himself and Satsuki to continue alone.

"You ready?" He asked.

"Hn, naturally just don't be surprised if _I'm _the one bringing home the food." She smirked before racing off ahead of him leaving him to sputter in shock at the gall before scowling and leaping after her determined not to lose to his main rival.

...

"Seeing that I found the cave I'd like to think that all the credit goes to me." Satsuki smirked as they peered into the entrance of a dark cave outcrop hidden not too far from the nearby stream. "If you want to say you helped I'll let you carry the carcass back." She taunted stepping over a pile of bone left haphazardly strewn about.

"You would like to think that but it's whoever takes it down that gets the credit Princess, and that's going to be me." He challenged looking over the deep claw marks that had been gouged into the earth surrounding the mouth of the cave.

They managed to track down something living in this cave and were hoping to make a meal of whatever it was, Satsuki had bet on it being some kind of large cat since she'd heard rumors of tigers living here while he was leaning towards a big old bear personally. Loser owed the winner a proper lunch when they got out of here.

"So, how do we get it out?" He asked tapping the wall with his knuckle.

"Easy..." She pulled out a single kunai and with a grunt, she launched the blade into the dark, the silence of the forest being interrupted the sharp ping of metal bouncing off the rocky interior. The pair waited for a minute but nothing seemed to be happening causing the duo to frown.

"Maybe it's not home?" He suggested tilting his head in a mixture of disappointment and confusion. "Do we just... wait around or something?"

"Like I know?" She fired back with a huff, her onyx eyes bleeding into a rich red as she tried to peer into the dark. Twin pairs of tomoe spun slowly as she peeked deeper into the cavern scanning for the slightest hint of life. Her eyes narrowed as the shadows within flickered for the briefest moment, the barest hint of light allowing her to just barely perceive something within the murky depths...

Her eyes widened suddenly and without hesitation, she leaped backwards away from the cave entrance.

"Move!" She shouted instinctively drawing another kunai into her hand.

He didn't need to be told twice and following her lead he jumped back to match her. chakra surging to life just beneath his skin as he turned his focus back to the cave opening.

Just in time to avoid being bisected by a massive paw.

_**"GRRRRRRR!"**_

From the shadows, a snarling bear charged out into the open, its fur the color of the darkest ink its yellow stained teeth were bared on full display while its beady black eyes tore into them with a fresh animalistic rage. To call it big would be an understatement, the creature was massive easily dwarfing them with more than plenty of size to spare, its hide was littered with battle scars as a testament to its strength.

...

"So, you now owe me at least 5 cups of ramen you know that right?" He grinned laughing heartily as the beast stared them down with spittle running down its jaws. "I told you so~" He chimed with amusement catching the slight twitch in her delicate brows.

"Tsk, shut up." She scoffed though he could tell by her tone she was more than a bit miffed about being wrong but her pride wouldn't allow for sulking so she'd use anger. "Let's just kill it and get back to camp you insufferable idiot." She seethed.

"Hehe, as you say, Princess." He laughed and easily dodged yet another wild swing from the creature offering a quiet whistle of respect of the force he could feel emanating off the attack. "Let's avoid being hit by that." He noted before rushing in and launching his own kick to the bears face his strength dazing it slightly.

Satsuki followed upon on the opening he'd created and closed the distance between them in a few moments, using her kunai she jabbed it into the beast shoulder and used the new contact point to vault over it launching a hail of shuriken into its back as she did so.

The beast bellowed in pain and pushed itself onto its hind legs before crashing back down, the earth cracking beneath it's large paws and forcing the pair to back off to avoid being crushed in the rampage.

"He's definitely a fighter." Naruto nodded in respect of the crater feeling slightly bad about having to put it down but they needed food and they weren't exactly swimming in options.

"Stop being impressed and put it down." She groaned rolling her eyes causing him to pout at her impatience.

"Fine fine, we'll make it quick." He sighed with embellished exasperation, wisps of light blue energy began to bleed from his now clenched fist that slowly blossomed into a torrent of twisting and writhing azur arcs of fluorescent light. "Just be sure to use the opening."

"Hn, just go." She nodded and he smirked before vanishing from sight.

_**"GROOOOOO!"**_

Their prey roared in agony as it was both blinded by the sudden flash of light and its body was thrown up by a sudden force smashing into its lower jaw, its torso flew back and it stumbled to stay upright on its back legs.

Satsuki blitzed forward with another two kunai drawn with a shout drove her knives right into the beasts unprotected neck, the force of her blow driving the blades easily through the thick layers of fat and muscle until she ran quite literally ran out of blade to use. Planting her feet against its broad chest she quickly pushed herself off sending her back while destroying what little balance the beast had left.

They watched as the creature fell to the floor with a heavy thud, the impact of its body shaking the earth one final time as it clawed for air, its trashing growing wild and more desperate in its final moments before at last...

It breathed its final breath and laid motionless before them.

"Sayonara big guy." Naruto mumbled quietly as he inspected the now still corpse nudging it slightly with his foot to make sure it wasn't going to come back to bite them. "Wonder how he got so big?"

Satsuki grunted and took hold of her knives that were still embedded within it and began to carve away at their soon to be meal. "Don't know and don't care just get the containers out so we can bring some of this meat back." She ordered causing him to sigh but nod regardless and he quickly brought out a few small bins they kept for such occasions.

They regretted not being able to bring the whole bear back but there was no way they'd be able to move it and such a large carcass would no doubt bring other predators running, better to take what they need and leave the rest to nature.

"That should be more than enough and we managed to make good time, I thought this was going to be harder honestly but I guess I can't complain." He said as the duo made their way back to the stream to wash off the remaining blood and viscera from their little excursion, they would also need to clean off the meat as well anyway.

"Hn, the exams aren't over yet and I doubt this is the final stretch of the exams overall." She snorted while allowing the cool clear water to run over her hands. "It wouldn't be surprising for them to save the hardest test for last."

"I guess that's true..." He nodded along with her reasoning. "We'll just have to wait and see for now we need to get back to-"

She watched curiously as the blond seemingly froze mid-sentence, his face once relaxed and carefree was now tense and confused. His brow scrunched in contemplation she could see his usually carefree eyes narrowed.

"We need to get back to Sakura, _now_."

"What's wrong?" She asked but she wasted no time and rushing to her feet knowing that he wouldn't be rushing them without a good reason. "Is she hurt?" She pressed making her way to his side as he scanned the tree line trying to figure out exactly where she'd headed.

"I don't know, but she isn't _alone_." He stressed that last bit quietly as he jumped into action having narrowed down her approximate location. "Something just took out all the clones I sent with her but none of them got a good look at whatever it was." He explained picking up the pace as adrenaline and worry pushed him to keep moving.

She frowned and pushed herself to match his pace.

"Do you think it is one of the other teams?" She asked wondering if they were walking right into a trap.

"I'm not sure, whatever it was had enough sense to dispatch all my clones together rather than fighting them off individually, which makes me think it was more deliberate than any random animal is capable of." He reasoned anxiously.

"Kukukuku... how insightful you are Naruto-kun~"

Naruto and Satsuki stopped mid-leap as a sudden paralyzing pressure asserted itself over them, their stride forcefully halted as they were forced back down to the ground while visions of their imminent death flashed before their eyes.

"W-What's going on?!" The heiress could barely speak as the sound of her own racing heartbeat rang out like beating drums in her ears, the sight while her vision shifted rapidly from a peaceful verdant forest to a bloodstained nightmare that left her dry heaving in its depravity.

Naruto wasn't doing much better as he tried vainly to shake off the suffocating aura that held them down, his hands balled up in the dirt while his teeth chattered maddening against one another as though he'd walked out into a snowstorm. At once he was reminded again of being at the mercy of a being so far above you that its mere presence was enough to shatter his resolve and unconsciously his chakra flared at the flash of fury he felt at such a reminder.

From the shadows, the pale figure of a Kusa kunoichi revealed herself to the paralyzed duo, her long tresses of ebony hair hypnotically swaying in the breeze while dark eyes looked down upon their prone forms with amusement, mirthful chuckles escaping her shuddering form every so often.

"I have to admit watching you three has been far more insightful than I'd been expecting..." She praised but there was mockery weaved like a poison in her words. "In these times of relative peace, it is refreshing to see that there are those who still dedicate themselves, though there is room for improvement." She hummed leaning against a tree while the duo gasped for air.

Naruto growled as he surged chakra through his system trying to bring his limbs back under his control, he _refused _to be helpless again! Deep in his core, malicious energy swirled and writhed in the presence of such negative intent before rushing to the surface like wildfire.

The Kusa kunoichi watched with curiosity as the blond's nails grew sharper and his features more rugged and feral. His whiskers growing darker and more defined while once round pupils stretched into animalistic slits. Blue tendrils of chakra bled and merged with crimson and the air around them shifted suddenly, as if in the presence of an apex predator.

Naruto pushed himself back onto his feet and snarled, the visions shattering like fragile glass as his own bloodlust began to dominate her own much to her quiet surprise but open delight, a sick smile gracing her features as she slowly came face to face with the now enraged youth.

By his side Satsuki grit her teeth, her Sharingan spinning wildly in her eyes as the presence of such a dangerous foe. Seeing her teammate force himself up ignited a fury in her at her own weakness and she bit the inside of her cheek, the taste of blood and pain filling her mouth being just enough to distract her from the weight of the world pressing upon her.

"Overcoming fear through rage and pain..." The Kusa-nin chuckled as the pair staggered to their feet, their shivering forms rapidly adjusting to her killing intent with each passing second. She hummed in approval pushing herself off the tree she'd been leaning against soundlessly. "I'm impressed."

"What the hell do you want?!" Naruto growled, the guttural droll of his voice a far cry from his usually friendly disposition made only more discomforting by the wild look he currently sported. "What have you done to Sakura?!"

"The pink one?" She laughed and offered a playful smile that only succeeded in putting the duo further on edge. "Don't you worry about her... I made sure to keep her occupied, kukuku..."

_**-With Sakura-**_

"God damn it!"

Sakura screamed as the spot she had just been standing exploded in a shower of dirt and rocks, her arms coming up to shield her face from the flying bits of earth that managed to fly her way. She grunted as small scrapes and cuts littered her forearms from jagged bits of rock but she had no time to assess such wounds and had to move again lest she end up as paste along the floor.

_**THUD!**_

Rolling to a stop she glared hatefully at the cause of her current predicament.

Slit brown eyes matched her stare easily, a forked tongue tasting the air around them as it slithered slowly across the now upended earth around them. It's muscles pushing the massive creature along while it sized up its insultingly small prey, dark brown scales shifted and expanded as it began to coil preparing for the next strike.

Sakura stared at the massive snake with a mixture of trepidation and fear, not only because of its size but the worrying level of intelligence she could see behind those piercing beady eyes. All animals including humans acted with a certain amount of instinct, every move a natural response to the stimuli provided by a given situation...

But this creature before her walked the line of instinct and rational thought that leaned a bit too close to a humans for her liking, it wasn't natural and more to the point it made fighting this thing far more deadly than it should have been.

She was forced to leave that thread of thought behind in favor of not becoming lunch for the hissing serpent. Her fists took on a metallic sheen as she pumped chakra to her hands before slugging the creature in the side, her taut fist sinking into its slithering form but causing little real harm to her annoyance.

Undeterred she used this small opening to launch a flurry of strikes to its body doing her best to break through its scales in the hope of actually injuring the damn thing!

It hissed in anger at her drumming along its lengthy body and it swiveled rapidly with its mouth wide open, no doubt trying to swallow her whole if possible. She narrowed her eyes and with a leap, she just managed to land upon its upper jaw. Quickly drawing a kunai she thrust the blade with all of her might into the snake's nose, a dark spray of crimson liquid being the reward for all her trouble. Using its moments against it she slid down the length of its head, her knife carving through its hide as she did so drawing an enraged hiss of pain from her would-be predator.

She hopped off forgoing her weapon in favor of distancing herself from the now thrashing serpent, its wild failing proving too hazardous for her to remain situated upon its head.

_**HIIIISSSSSSS!**_

She smirked tiredly at the pure murderous intent shining in those cold slit eyes, blood trickled from its wounds and sword length teeth were out on full display in open challenge... there was no running now, this was personal.

"Come and get me then, you oversized purse!" She spat and readied herself with another kunai as it charged.

_**-Back with Naruto and Satsuki-**_

"Oh, I hope that didn't hurt too much Satsuki-chan~."

The Kusa-nin laughed mockingly as she looked upon the now sailing form of the Uchiha heiress, her outstretched foot coming to rest calmly upon the earth even as the enraged form of Naruto jumped upon her shortly after. His chakra coated fist cocked back to deck her into the earth.

"Too slow~" She teased and merely vanished from view before grabbing him by the ankle and slamming him into the ground hard, globs of blood and spittle escaping his mouth before he was unceremoniously thrown into the nearest tree with a sickening crunch.

"That can't be all you have?" She pondered looking on their battered forms as they struggled back up to their feet glaring daggers as her. "You seemed so confident before, kukuku~"

Naruto and Satsuki shot each other a look and nodded, Naruto rushing forward suddenly and falling upon the relaxed kunoichi who merely crossed her arms even as he inched ever closer.

_**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**_

Her eyes widened as instead of attacking her as expected, her vision was abruptly filled with smoke obscuring her sight of the two genin in the shroud of expelled chakra. Leaping back, she quickly took to the air putting distance between herself the cloud.

_Schickt!_

She flinched ever so slight as two pairs of kunai flew by her face missing her by mere inches as they sailed past cutting a few strands of her black hair in the process.

_Poof!_

Her eyes widened as the sounds of a henge coming undone sounded behind her, black orbs swiveled just in time to catch sight of a savagely grinning blond running through hand seals familiar to her.

_**Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!**_

Gale forces slammed into her like a bullet, her previous momentum lost under the guided pressure of his wind tunnel bearing down on her like the hand of a displeased god driving her down towards the earth. Idly she mused on if his rage had any effect on her quiet analogy of his technique.

_**Fire Style: Dragon Fire no Jutsu!**_

_How unfortunate for her... _

Fire meshed violently with the wind creating a searing inferno as the complementary elements crashed into one another with her at their center, the wildfire seemed to rock the earth as a towering ball of flames erupted from their position, no doubt easily visible to any teams that happened to be nearby. The roar of fanned flames was almost deafening and it didn't take long for billowing smoke to begin drowning the clearing in a dense, suffocating haze.

Naruto and Satsuki coughed as the greenery around them burned but even so there was a sense of relief in their hearts at what should have been a clear victory. There was no way to escape such a blaze unscathed and their opponent had been caught right in the middle of it!

"Creepy bitch..." Satsuki huffed as her knees shook from a mixture of exhaustion and satisfaction. She squashed whatever remaining feelings of fear she held towards the Kusa-nin in the reassurance that she had to be dead, there was no way she wasn't...

Naruto glared hard as the still-burning flames with trepidation but slight hope. Whoever that woman was they'd only won because they'd gotten lucky and she'd played with them for too long... he dreaded to think what might have become of them had she gone all out from the beginning.

"Kukuku... well that sure was something..."

"No...no no no!" Satsuki hissed in disbelief as from the ashes the burning form of their adversary rose in all her warped glory. Silky black hair burned away like the wick of a candle while once taught, soft pale skin sagged and melted away like wax. Dripping onto the ash-covered floor below as she staggered towards them.

"How?!" He glared as the previous sensation of victory soured at the sight of her, her flaking and dribbling skin sliding off like the shed of a snake revealing eerie golden yellow eyes and white skin underneath. A sickly smile gracing her still melting features.

"How nostalgic... it has been some time since I've seen a combination like that used by ones so young." She paused and reached a hand up to grasp at what little remained of her "face". "I wonder what else you'll show me if I push you a little harder, ne?"

Ripping the remains off they were given a front-row seat to the disturbing sight of a pale _man_, literally stepping out of the kunoichi's body. The charred husk falling to the floor like worn-out clothing left to be thrown out and discarded...

"W-What do you even want?!" Satsuki felt her heartbeat like a drum in her chest, this was different than everything else they'd faced... this was a nightmare given living form. For all of Zabuza's talk of being a demon, they'd seen him bleed like any other man...

As far as she was concerned this... "thing" in front of her wasn't human.

"That's always the real question isn't it?" He laughed and it was only made more unsettling by the tepid glow of the dying embers around him. "What is it you think I want?" He mused throwing the question back at them.

"The scrolls?..." She answered hesitantly while at her side Naruto analyzed the male before them. The pale white skin and golden slit eyes were familiar to him... he'd seen such a character description before in his studies and even then they'd stuck an unsettling cored within him.

"No..." He spoke up and took a fearful step back. "He doesn't need our scroll..."

The Uchiha heiress sent him an alarmed look, his normal tanned skin was almost stark white and the confidence that practically defined him seemed to have wilted being replaced by almost unreasonably intense fear.

At least unreasonable to anyone who didn't know just what they were up against.

"Oh? What makes you so sure Naruto-kun?" He smiled and slightly elongated fangs could be seen lining his bemused grin. "I am a competitor just like you after all?" He chuckled raising a brow in curiosity as he did so. "You don't believe I'd like to pass as well?"

"What need does a Sannin have to participate in the chunin exams, least of all one that isn't even a part of the village anymore?" Naruto clenched his fist and stared directly into the snake-like gaze of the man, no... the monster standing before them.

"Orochimaru... what do you want?"

_**-With Sakura-**_

_**"CHAAAA!"**_

She shouted in defiance as her heel crashed directly into her opponent's unprotected eye sending it rearing back violently and screeching in pain. She did her best to ignore the phantom pain shooting through her own eyes at the sickening sensation of her foot sinking into the squishy tissue but she couldn't afford to be merciful right now.

Her opponent rounded on her with jaws wide open but she was getting a read on its attacks and without wasting a move she rolled to the side allowing its strike to pass harmlessly by before once again digging her kunai into is passing side, leaving yet another bleeding gash in its scaly hide. Her victory was short-lived, however, as she was sent flying by a panicked whip from its tail. She grit her teeth as she crashed through a series of brittle but sharp branched before managing to correct herself mid-flight and land with a measure of grace.

She panted under her breath as she took stock of the situation, keeping up the Iron Shell was beginning to wear on her and despite all the damage she'd inflected her slithering opponent refused to flee... one of them wasn't leaving her alive and she would be damned if she died here alone. She needed something decisive to end this now before she ran out of chakra.

She sprung into action first, going on the offensive, she quickly ran through hand signs and in a slight haze of smoke three copies of the pinkette fell upon the trashing serpent with knives in hand. Having found success with using its tail as a blunt weapon the fanged reptile began to swing its tail like a lash, smacking whatever strayed too close and protecting its bleed face from further harm.

Sakura paid it no mind even as her clones were wiped from existence, they were serving their intended purpose. Using the distraction to sneak around back she quickly ran up the nearest tree, the sound of her footsteps deadened by the enraged hissing of her opponent who was unable to focus on her with all the copies around and missing one eye. She grinned as she hopped into position above her target.

Below her, the wounded head of her enemy was left undefended, in particular, the first gash she'd made that stopped just before it's long, reaching neck. She'd only have one shot at this...

With a breath, she hurled one of her kunai into the still open wound, the perfectly sharpened blade cutting silently through the air before digging into the bleeding skin with a wet squelch and another earth rattling hiss of pain, the pommel sticking out of the beasts head like a little flag. She watched quietly as it tossed and turned searching for the culprit, its forked tongue tasting the air reminding her that she had to act quickly unless she wanted to go another round with the enraged creature.

She locked her eyes on her knife and surged what chakra she could spare into her fist, her legs bent and coiled before at once she launched herself with a sharp crack from her hiding spot with her fist drawn back.

_**Earth Style: Shattering Strike!**_

Her chakra enhanced fist impacted against the handle of her knife, the power to shatter the earth driving home through refined metal as her knuckle touched ever so briefly against the steel pommel ring...

The rest fell into place seconds after.

The force of her strike propelled her knife like a bullet through the parted skin and scales, the sharp tip digging through softer inner flesh and bone with ease before piercing the deepest parts of the serpent's skull with a dull thunk. Brain matter and blood sprayed into the air at the violent and lethal intrusion painting the clearing in a shower of crimson before the earth rumbled as the once-proud snake collapsed to the ground in a heap, surrounded by its remains.

Sakura stumbled off its corpse, her hands and face spattered with blood and bits of bone left from the rather violent execution, her arm trembled and her legs felt like lead as she slid down to rest against the now still body of her kill. She chuckled weakly at the thought her teammates seeing her like this, but at least they had something to eat now...

_**Poof!**_

She squawked indignantly as the carcass she'd been quietly resting against vanished abruptly in a billow of smoke leaving her reeling as she hit the floor, her hard-earned meal disappearing before her eyes.

...

_The verbal tirade that occurred shortly after would make even the most hardened shinobi gawk in disbelief._

_**-With Naruto and Satsuki-**_

"Kukukuku... well it seems I've been found out, by a freshly minted genin no less." Orochimaru chuckled and rested his head upon his palm casually in amusement. "Though I wasn't being all that subtle so I can't award you full points for that, Naruto-kun."

He didn't sound particularly fussed about having been discovered either.

Naruto growled as the open mockery but he couldn't afford to act rashly, the Sannin were famous for a reason, or in Orochimaru's case infamous. There was little information about the man other than some of his accomplishments during the Second Shinobi War and a list of crimes that had led to his status as a missing-nin.

Treason, human experimentation, kidnapping, the murder of allied shinobi, slaughter, the list just went on and on.

Orochimaru smirked and stretched himself out shaking off some loose bits of leftover skin as if he'd done it a thousand times before and honestly, it wouldn't surprise him if that turned out to be true.

"My goals are my own sadly so I shall not be sharing them but you can think of this as... a trial so to speak, an experiment to sate my curiosity though, like with any experiment things could get a bit out of hand." He mused crossing his arms. "After all it's not every day one gets to test one of the last of the famed Uchiha line so forgive me if my restraint wanes." Yellow eyes leered almost perversely upon the shivering form of the Uchiha heiress before turning to the boy at her side.

"Ah, but I suppose you are quite special as well eh, Naruto-kun? It's a shame this village is so blind to your true potential... perhaps if they knew the truth they would be more receptive to you?" He pondered sending the boy a pitying look, one that showed he knew far more than he should.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at that last tidbit, what truth was Orochimaru referencing? His status as a container was well known to almost everyone that wasn't within his age group so what was he talking about?

Orochimaru smiled at the confusion in the boy's eyes, it was almost cathartic for him to see even the smallest bit of vulnerability and the myriad of ways to capitalize on such a thing? Absolutely divine.

"Best not to think about it, I suppose. I don't think the Sandaime would appreciate you going around asking tough questions… after all, he was content to leave you in the dark all this time so what harm could a few more years do?" He shook his head but he still easily caught sight of the child's balling fists.

_Sometimes these things were just too easy. _

Satsuki watched her teammate grow increasingly restless the more the Sannin spoke. His eyes less attentive and his expression muddled... she was painfully reminded that she didn't know as much as she should about her teammate but she was aware that he wasn't popular within the village. She'd never stopped to think about the reason _why _though... he wasn't a terrible person by any means. He could be a bit loud and pushy at times but that wasn't a good enough reason for the seemingly universal distaste he was surrounded by. Orochimaru referenced the Sandaime keeping him in the dark, but in the dark about what?

_What else didn't she know about Naruto?_

"Oi, idiot." She huffed and punched him in the arm snapping him out of whatever thoughts had plagued him. "Get a grip, I don't plan to carry you through this." She scoffed bringing her trembling under control and sending him one of her usual cocky grins. She didn't need a mirror to see how forced it was but right now he needed something, anything to center him.

She could at least do that.

"If you slow me down I'll leave you behind." She promised but her eyes conveyed a very different message, one that she knew he'd spot instantly. "If you are going to call yourself my rival at least act the part."

He paused for a moment to consider her words before returning her smirk with one of his own. She was right, he didn't have the luxury of being so careless right now, not when their lives were on the line. He flexed his chakra once more and let out a sigh of relief at the soothing sensation of his near boundless reserves responding to his call, the shine in his eyes grew brighter as he summoned more and more of the life-sustaining energy.

"Right, thanks for that." He offered her a grateful smile which she nodded at before turning back to face a patiently waiting Orochimaru who merely looked upon the proceedings with bemusement. No doubt he found the brief heart to heart amusing, if futile.

"You ready?"

"Naturally." She scoffed and surged her chakra in response, allowing her sharingan to bleed back to life in her narrowed eyes. "We'll turn this forest into ash if we have to." She meant it to, she didn't care what they had to do but she wouldn't go down without a fight if she could help it.

"Haha, let's go all out then!" He grinned as bright waves of blue energy seemingly billowed from his pores in response to his newfound determination.

From Orochimaru gave a wistful grin as the two genin charged him head-on, this would be the perfect test...

"Kukuku, let's see your limits!"

* * *

**AN. Chapter Complete!**

**And that is where we shall leave off for now, a bit shorter than I'd initially planned but with the holidays here I decided to write a shorter chapter instead of a long drawn out one. It doesn't help that I now have three active stories so that's not helping but I suppose that is one of the cons of doing creative endeavors.**

**Anyway onto story stuff!**

**So starting off with the first main difference, obviously I've changed some stuff here. Team Seven going on the attack to collect scrolls feels more appropriate than letting them get ambushed or stumbling across them with dumb luck. Plus I think it helps show their growth and cohesion as a team where they feel confident enough as individuals to tackle challenges without being paralyzed by fear. **

**During the original exams, it felt (to me) like it was Sasuke who was kinda supposed to carry them through this part of the exam and as such their options felt really limited. Sakura had the brains but no skill to use them and Naruto had the reserves and some utility but not the knowledge on how to use any of it properly.**

**Here that's not the case so here I allowed them to act more freely and complimented their new strength appropriately.**

**Moving on, Sakura vs. Summoning snake:**

**Originally I was still going to have Naruto get blown away by Orochimaru and allow Sakura to team up with Satsuki but I changed my mind and instead thought it would be a bit more interesting to give Sakura her own opponent. Lacking Naruto's ability to pop the snake from the inside and increasing the durability it had I think it made a good challenge for her but also showed that she's more than capable of handling herself. **

**I didn't make the fight very easy since it was a summon animal and I wanted it to be a bit tougher, plus Sakura is a more defensive/close-range fighter so she was a disadvantage but she did well. I know some will point out that she is fighting a lot like how she fights in Shippuden and I am aware of that. She fights in that style because I think it actually does suit her and I like it, my hope isn't to completely change how she fights but add onto it through her element affinity.**

**Its nowhere near the strength she'll display later but I think it's a fair start.**

**Naruto and Satsuki vs. Orochimaru:**

**Now I think from the outset it should be obvious that Orochimaru is playing with them, this isn't even a question. Mind games and mental warfare are his things and naturally, he's going to want to make them as desperate as possible to show off as much as possible. Tanking their most powerful combo (that we've seen) and walking it off with a smile and laugh is all part of his routine. **

**I won't say much here since obviously, their fight is going to continue next time but they are not in for a smooth ride by any means. What the outcome of this fight will be however is up in the air.**

**-To preemptively address a question, why would Naruto and Satsuki attempt to fight Orochimaru instead of trying to just run?:**

**They are both _fully_ aware they are outclassed and this is not me signaling they are going to pull out so major BS win out of their asses or anything. The reason they don't turn tail and book it is for the same reason you don't see a lion in front of you and immediately try to run (or at least you shouldn't do that, back away slowly and eyes to the floor), the lion will not only easily catch you but now you are at disadvantage because you turned your back on it and got caught anyway. **

**They know they need to create an opening to make a move and the only way to do that is by at least engaging him, if he wanted them dead he could do it but he hasn't so logically he must want something. What that something is they don't actually know yet. I just had to take a moment to clarify this because I'm sure some people will read that and think "wtf are they doing" but believe me I didn't suddenly lose all sense of logic.**

**Some might also be curious why Kyuubi's chakra got drawn out so quickly and I want to clarify that it only appeared very briefly in response to Naruto's anger at being helpless and fear of whatever was immobilizing him. Enough to shock him out of it and give him an initial burst of confidence before receding again, when he does eventually really get into using its chakra I will make it more clear.**

**Anyway last up I want to address two things:**

**Number one is that I am an idiot:**

**For the harem, I said that I made a poll regarding Tayuya and if I should replace her for Samui from Kumo. I didn't realize that I forgot to make that poll visible so no one was actually able to vote which is totally my fault and I'm sorry about that! The poll is now up (it should be) so if you would take the time to just head over to my page and leave a vote that would make this way easier than having to read through all the reviews and count (plus this way people can be anonymous if they'd like)**

**Sorry again!**

**The second thing I wanted to talk about and I mentioned this last chapter is my stance on Lemons and if they would feature in this story:**

**So I've said in the past them I don't really mind writing lemons for this story and people have generally have either wanted them or been apathetic to them which has naturally leaned a bit more towards yes than no. So seeing as the story has picked up a lot of followers and fans since the last time I talked about it I am going to ask you all one last time to let me know how you feel on this.**

**If you don't want lemons in this fic feel free to tell me. If you do want to see them than let me know as well. Before you vote though I do want to explain how lemons would be done in this fic compared to other fics I have written. **

**For one character won't suddenly have their romances rushed just to have a lemon, while the pacing might be different depending on the character (e.g. Kira versus someone like Hinata) I'm not going to ruin a character romantic pacing just for a lemon. They also won't just be thrown in wantonly, instead being sprinkled here and there but by no means will they outweigh telling the actual story.**

**Secondly, I will be upfront now that I don't write fluff lemons. What I mean by this is that I don't write lemon scenes that you could accidentally skip over if you scroll too fast because they are just that short. If I include a lemon it's going to be substantial and that can be seen in my other fics (specifically The Hero's Journey for more recent examples). This means that a chapter featuring a lemon will be a bit shorter story-wise since the lemon will be built in not thrown in for giggles. Of course, I'm not going to just put a lemon in the middle of a big story chapter (unless it makes sense) and I always put warnings for when they appear and end so people may skip if they'd like.**

**Lastly, they likely won't show up until Shippuden. Given that the characters are around what 12-14 years old currently, there isn't a huge rush to get them too involved in anything. Make out sessions and such perhaps but nothing crazy. Some might be disappointed by the wait but people do express concern with it so I figure it's best to hold off though if you feel different you are welcome to let me know.**

**Anyway, that's enough from me, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and had a nice holiday! Thank you again so much for the support and I'll see you all next time!**


	27. Chapter 27

_**Disclaimer: I own nothing but enjoy nonetheless.**_

**Hello! it has been a while but we couldn't go into the new year without at least one last chapter, granted I have my reservations about that idea but if you are reading this then it's too late now. Either way I hope you enjoy the chapter and thank you all for sticking with me, I know I have neglected this story a bit with the other stuff I'm working on but I've come to realize that I am just happier writing what I want when it stikes me so I apologize in advance if I end up writing a ton of other fics in the meantime lol.**

**Anyway, I won't keep you, I hope you enjoy the chapter and I will see you all at the bottom like always! PLEASE READ THE AN AT THE END BEFORE YOU REVIEW IF YOU WOULD, THANK YOU!**

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...

"How this brings me back, kukuku…"

Orochimaru chuckled to himself as he practically danced through the treetops, his snakelike form twisting and weaving past hails of throwing stars, kunai and the occasional jutsu thrown in for good measure. Searing jets of white hot flames burning the surroundings to ash while pressurized blasts of water sliced through the branches he was moving between attempting to drown him out.

It reminded him of working with his old team in some ways, though the distinct rumbling of the earth that all to often accompanied his third teammate presence was missing from the symphony of raining fire and flash floods. Hmph, to be reminiscing in the middle of fight… his age really was showing. Then again what did it matter? He would have all the time in the world when his ambitions were complete after all.

"Kukuku, come now children that can't be all you have?" He teased having idly noticed the barrage of attacks slowing. Dull yellow eyes looked upon the huffing genin with bemusement, the frustration on their faces was delightful in its own way and he almost felt a pang of sympathy for their plight.

To throw everything you had at an opponent in a futile effort was not an enviable position but such was the nature of their profession.

Satsuki narrowed her eyes in annoyance at the Sannin's taunting but maintained her calm knowing that to give in to her anger here was almost a guaranteed death sentence. Her fingers clutched at a new batch of shuriken tightly as she used her enhanced vision to seek even the smallest opening, the tomoe within her eyes spinning wildly in response to her anxiousness.

Around them, the smell of burning foliage and damp earth permeated the air, a direct result of their combined attacks. The once pristine cleaning was now littered with dark ash from her flames and broken branches now littered the ground from her teammate's unyielding assault with wind and water.

In spite of their best efforts, their opponent remained unphased, not even a single hair out of place even as the trees around him groaned in agony at the punishment they'd suffered in his stead. All the while he maintained his sickening gaze upon her, her clear sight having made her more than conscious of his roaming slit eyes.

She fought to keep herself from shivering violently at his unwanted attention.

Naruto clicked his teeth in open irritation at their lack of success, it was obvious to even the most casual observer that the snake Sannin wasn't taking them seriously but to see such a gap in skill first hand was more nerve-wracking than he was willing to show. The jovial and cordial manner in which he addressed them did little to distract from the unflinching truth that at any moment he could very well break them apart on a whim.

The harsh reality of their situation was as clear as day… the _only _reason they were only still alive was that the snake sannin simply hadn't deemed their lives worth taking at the moment.

The only logical choice was to run, they were alone in this forest as far as they knew and he very much doubted anyone else taking part in these exams would be any help against one of the most notorious missing-nin to ever walk the earth. Calling for backup would likely be a crapshoot since even if he _could _get a message to the proctors or the Hokage what were the odds they would make in time?…

The real question was, how did you escape from someone who was stronger, faster, and far more experienced than you were? More to the point even if they escaped what chance did they have of remaining hidden?

"That's quite the face you're making their Naruto-kun, would you care to share your thoughts with the class?" Orochimaru asked, his ever unsettling smile still etched upon his pale face. "I've heard you can be rather insightful when the situation calls for it and I can't help but find myself curious."

"It's nothing you need to know about." He rebutted not at all interested in sharing his rather dismal take on their situation. He wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"Very well, keep your secrets." Orochimaru sighed before at once vanishing before their eyes and appearing suddenly within their blind spot. "I'll pry them out of you eventually regardless."

Naruto screamed as a pale fist buried itself into his stomach before choking on a second scream as he was elbowed viciously into the earth his face impacting harshly with the ground as mind-numbing pain exploded through him. Orochimaru's stoic face looking down upon him with little more than slight exasperation before he was forced to block a roundhouse kick from an enraged Uchiha, her face settled into a hateful sneer.

"You bastard!"

"So protective" Orochimaru smirked. "How interesting..."

He ducked under a second kick before sweeping her legs out from under her and lashing out with his own kick. Her arms managed to just barely guard her chest against his attack but the impact still sent her flying back but her balance was broken and she was left to roll across the floor for a few moments before finally managing to stop herself.

Placing his foot upon the now retching boy at his feet he sent a look towards the trembling heiress. He admired her resolve to continue this little dance of theirs, she had that famous "Uchiha Pride" he'd seen in her kin during his time here… though it seems she had other priorities as well.

"I've had the pleasure of meeting your brother Satsuki-chan and I must say… you don't remind me much of him." He watched as an expression of fury overtook her features at the mention of her older brother but he paid it no mind. "You lack the same focus I saw within him, the talent is there but you've yet to bring it out."

He smiled.

"I could help you. After all, do you think Itachi has grown stagnant in his time out of this miserable little village? No, his type goes on to gather the strength to etch their names into the very bones of this earth and yet here you are trodding along at your own pace while the gap between you two grows ever larger."

"Shut the hell up!" She growled. "I don't need any help, least of yours to kill him!"

"Don't hide from the truth Satsuki-chan, it does you no favors." He sent the enrage heiress an almost pitiful smile that only served to fuel the fire of anger within her. "You know in your heart that if you fought Itachi as you are now you'd lose." He began to walk slowly towards her. "This village… it was powerless to stop someone of his level, how can you obtain the strength to surpass him here?" He asked.

"You desire power, you value strength… I can offer you power beyond anything you could obtain within these walls." He extended an open hand in invitation. "Those eyes of yours and my knowledge… what a frightening combination we could make."

She spat at him.

"I don't want anything to do with you or whatever power you claim to have." She answered coldly drawing more of her chakra out. "I'll fight Itachi on my own terms and no one else's."

"Such perfect eyes and yet still so blind to reality…" He sighed but let out a slight chuckle. "Let's see if you change your tune after getting a small taste of what I can offer you."

Her eyes widened in disgust and shock as his neck twisted and stretched far beyond human proportions before shooting forward like a bullet towards her, his jaw open wide with longer than average canines bared. Instinctually she hurled her shuriken at his approaching head but it did little to phase him as Orochimaru merely swiveled in his snake-like fashion to avoid the hailstorm of metal.

_She didn't have enough space to dodge!_

_**Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!**_

Orochimaru choked as his main body was sent flying and by extension he was too, his fanged teeth mere inches away from his intended target before he was thrown violently away by the gale forces. Naruto's panting form sat off to the side, his chest rising and falling rapidly from the hastily formed jutsu but the satisfied smirk on his face was enough to convey his satisfaction before he brought his hands together forming yet another seal.

_**Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**_

The clearing was swiftly filled to the brim with copies of the blond, so many that they couldn't all fit within the confines of their battleground. Copies of her teammates hung from the branches practically tripping over each other for the smallest bit of space.

"_**CHARGE!"**_

She didn't know which one made the call but she was soon treated to the sight of a stampeding horde of clones charging in the direction of the thrown Sannin. Their faces set into a sea of snarls and grim determination as the marched on towards their almost certain death with all the bullish bravado of any disposable soldier.

"Come on we need to go!"

She was snapped out of her trance by the rough and desperate grip of what she could only assume was the real Naruto dragging her in the opposite direction of the dog piling clones. She shook off her surprise and spared one last glance towards the wall of bodies separating them from their hunter before allowing herself to be pulled along, the rapid beating of her own heart drowned out by the shouting as the pair of them created as much distance between them and the clearing.

Naruto grit his teeth as flashes of memory began to assault him, the annoyed scowl of one pale snake Sannin searing itself into his mind as clones were massacred left and right, their final moments relayed to him like pictures. They needed to get as far as possible and he silently cursed himself for not offering to teach the Uchiha the shunshin no jutsu. The sound of popping clones and distressed shouts of panic grew further and further as they booked it, it didn't matter where they went so long as it was away from that man.

They needed to find Sakura and get a hold of someone, _anyone _who could handle the monster that had infiltrated these exams.

Recalling the memories of the squad of clones he'd sent with the pinkette he quickly approximated her position, no doubt she'd moved since then but that was their only lead and they weren't going to leave her behind. Summoning another batch of clones to cover their tracks he also sent a smaller batch out towards the forest entrance, the proctors and the Hokage needed to know what was going on and each second was a small chance of success.

Satsuki frowned as the gravity of the situation at hand settled uncomfortably upon her. The realization that they were essentially trapped in hostile territory with one of the most dangerous criminals in the world was a blow to her confidence that wasn't easily overcome. Unconsciously her fists clenched at her sides at the all too familiar and unwanted feelings of fear and helplessness gripped her. How many times would she be left at the mercy of others?...

**-Back in the Clearing-**

Orochimaru frowned as he dispatched yet another batch of copies near effortlessly. He would begrudgingly admit he'd grown a bit complacent in his taunting but it didn't make this distraction any less of an annoyance. It was a shame he couldn't make the Uzumaki a vessel, the chakra capacity alone would be a boon towards his ambitions coupled with their high life force and sturdy bodies the child was near perfect. Alas, it was in his best interest to leave the boy alone, at least until he was more confident about securing his own safety.

For now, the Uchiha would do just fine.

_**Fire Style: Burning Plains!**_

A superheated torrent of flames washed over the clones dispelling all within his path in the tidal wave of fire. What clones did manage to escape were quickly cut down by the now moving Sannin who barely stopped to glance over his handiwork in favor of staring off in the direction of multiple chakra signatures moving in tandem.

"Clever Naruto-kun… very clever."

It was a unique experience seeing a child make use of one of the village's most prized and dangerous techniques in such a liberal fashion. Even he could not make so many disposable clones without consequence but to the jinchuriki such a task might as well have been as easy as breathing. If left to develop at his current pace he would become a force to be reckoned with even without his tenant.

However, these were _his _old stomping grounds and it would take more than a few dozen clones to deprive him of his goals.

Breaking the skin of his thumb he quickly flashed through hand seals before slamming his palms along the ground, complex arrays of seals spreading forth from his palms as he completed the contract required for this technique.

"Kukuku, let the hunt begin again."

A chorus of hissing accompanied his laughter as scores of serpents slithered madly into the jungle before them all with one goal in mind. Find the children and bring them back to their master.

_**-With Naruto and Satsuki-**_

He winced as the memory of an all-consuming fire slammed into him, the cries of his clones smothered out by the roaring flames before the feedback cut out telling him all he needed to know about the fate of his copies. More importantly, that meant Orochimaru was no doubt back on the move.

"We need to find Sakura fast, that bastard's done with all my clones." He warned sending a worried glance towards Satsuki. "I don't think he's the type to give up from such a minor setback either."

"Did you figure that out _before _or _after _we set him on fire?" She snarked but her frustration wasn't directed at him but rather their situation and that was just how she dealt with stress. "What about that group of clones you sent for backup? Are they still okay?"

"I haven't received any memories from them so, for now, I think it's safe to assume they are still making their way toward the gates. So long as they don't get interrupted by another team we may be able to at least warn the village." He answered back.

"And what about us?" She asked quietly. "What are _we _supposed to do exactly? Sit on our hands and hope to kami that freak doesn't pop out of every bush or shadow?" She saw the untamed desire in that _thing's _eyes when he looked at them, he wasn't going to take this game of cat and mouse lightly and every fiber of her being quietly dreaded a second encounter with the missing-nin.

"Right now we are currently heading deeper into the forest, we already have both scrolls all we need to do is make it to the center tower and we won't have to sit out here anymore." He explained. "Odds are the main tower is being overseen by a few jounin or chunin meaning Orochimaru will probably try and avoid getting too close."

If he went through all the trouble of disguising himself as a participant than perhaps he would back off if they were in a populated area. Of course, there was the niggling knowledge that the snake could more than likely defeat any opponent barring perhaps the Third himself but he would not entertain those thoughts right now.

They had enough to worry about without the extra layer of paranoia.

"She should be around… here…."

The pair's eyes widened in shock at the bloody sight that greeted them as they stepped into the clearing that marked the last known location of their third teammate. The surroundings told of brutal battle with knocked over trees, broken and trampled branches, and cracked earth that jutted up sharply from the ground spiderweb-like cracks left imprinted on its surface.

"What the fuck."

Satsuki's vulgar if not inappropriate exclamation of shock shook him from his own stupor at the sight. Immediately fear and slight panic set in as his mind turned towards the worst possible outcomes, Sakura had clearly been here and more than likely had fought off something judging by the craters littering the ground but there was no clear sign of her or whatever had attacked her.

_"Don't you worry about her... I made sure to keep her occupied, kukuku..."_

Orochimaru's earlier words rang through his mind sending a growing numbness through him as he was reminded that even Sakura hadn't been spared from the Sannin's games. There was far too much blood here to have come from the small girl but that wasn't to say none of it could be hers…

"Oh thank Kami!"

Those fears were immediately put to rest as a bloody but more importantly still _alive _Sakura walked out from the bushes nearby, her red dress caked in spots of dried blood that stained her form and they could see hastily wiped smears of crimson on her usually pale cheeks indicating that more than just her clothing had gotten spattered. Green eyes sparkled with relief and joy at the sight of her teammates and it took everything she had not to rush over and embrace them.

"Sakura, you look…. Nice?" For all the stress she was feeling the odd sight of their most normal teammate covered in blood managed to take some of the edge off if only because of how out of place it seemed.

"Are you okay?!" He asked as they moved to inspect the pinkette who merely let out an exhausted sigh in response and nodded.

"I'm fine, other than being attacked by a snake the size of a small house I'm great!" She gave a shaky smile that hinted she was much more rattled than she let on but they were relieved to see that she was for the most part unharmed. "More importantly what the hell happened to you two?!"

They'd been in almost pristine condition when they'd parted ways but with just a passing glance she could see the exhaustion plaguing the pair, their clothing was dirty and scuffed and she could detect the telltale smell of ash that clung to them. What the hell had happened while she was fighting?

"We'll explain on the way but we need to go right now, forget camping out we are going to straight to the tower." Satsuki answered making her way to the other edge of the clearing, they couldn't afford to waste their time here.

Sakura clearly had questions but seeing the grave look on their face knew that now wasn't the time and nodded.

"Okay, but can I at least get a power wash or something first, this is really nasty..."

Despite himself he couldn't help but chuckle at the pleading look she shot his way and admitted they probably had time for that at least. She had earned that much.

…

Anko sighed in content as she propped her feet up on desk located within her tent. She wasn't a fan of having to camp out outside of the testing area but at the very least she could just relax and best of all she had a legion of chunin at her beck and call which she had made good use of to fetch every desire.

Example being the steaming hot skewers of dango sitting on her lap at the moment.

"What I wouldn't give to get permission to go in and mess with a few of those little brats, bet I could get at least of few to piss themselves before the end of the test." She mused as munched away at her snack absentmindedly. "Then again this year has some decent talent so maybe not…"

She had caught sight of nearly every major clan heir participating in this year's event which was almost unprecedented. A few had stuck out to her due to her own history with the clans or their instructors.

The most obvious being her lovely Nai-chan's team, her best friend had naturally forbidden her from meeting with the little gakis before now but she still knew about them. Shino Aburame was practically a clone of his father and somehow managed to show even less emotion if that was even possible, according to Kurenai he was talented but he needed to work on his communication skills as was typical of shinobi from the Aburame clan.

Hinata Hyuuga, heiress to the Hyuuga clan.

The pale-eyed princess was undoubtedly Nai-chan's favorite doubling as both a shining example of what she believed a kunoichi should be as well as a little sister figure. The girl was polite but didn't possess the Hyuuga clan's famed rigidity which made her rather popular among her peers. She also apparently nursed quite an affection for a certain blond gaki much to her amusement knowing that her little show had probably miffed the girl quite a bit.

She might have to make that a habit if only to see how red a Hyuuga could get if pushed far enough.

Then there was the Kira Inuzuka, heiress to the Inuzuka clan by virtue of her older sister rejecting the title. She was actually on friendly terms with both Hana and Tsume but she'd never met the youngest Inuzuka until this morning. According to Kurenai, the girl was brash beyond belief but at least possessed the skill to back it up, she was fiercely loyal and spoke whatever was on her mind regardless of circumstance.

A girl after her own heart, maybe she would introduce herself sometime… if she was anything like her older sister than they would get along just fine.

As for the rest of the genin, she knew a little bit about each but there were some standouts. Asuma's team was just the next generation of the famed Ino-Shika-Cho trio which was a bit boring in her mind but that was just her opinion. Asuma did speak fondly of his team quite often amidst his complaints about their various quirks. He was particularly fond of Shikaku's daughter praising her frightening intelligence though he did wish that she would apply herself more.

Ino Yamanaka was a name she'd heard plenty from her father Inoichi since they often worked closely on cases. He had nothing but positive things to say about his "little angel" so she took his words with a grain of salt. She didn't seem like the type that would pick up her father's work when he eventually retired or passed on but she would reserve her judgment since she didn't really know the girl.

Choji seemed like a typical Akimichi, gentle but food-obsessed. Asuma liked the boy well enough but mentioned that he currently lacked any real drive that would push him to really bring out his best.

She and Gai weren't exactly close so she knew next to nothing about his team other than they apparently oozed "the springtime of youth", whatever the fuck that meant. She knew he had an uppity Hyuuga, a decent kunoichi, and a clone of himself that the Hokage had apparently not saw fit to ban from occurring.

Looks like the next generation was doomed to deal with that horrid jumpsuit as well.

Lastly, there was that baka Kakashi's team, home to her special little brat and the last loyal Uchiha. Kakashi didn't speak much about his team other than they were more than capable of handling themselves and that he had high hopes for them. From what she'd heard the last heiress was a loner at heart but given what had happened to the girl she couldn't exactly blame her for not wanting to make friends.

The pink one, Sakura? Apparently, the girl was civilian born which she could respect seeing as she herself wasn't a clan child and knew that being placed with the village superstar and pariah likely wasn't helpful to her own self-image but the girl seemed to be doing well which was surprising given Kakashi's lack of experience teaching. He was strong but he didn't really know how to explain things, his natural talent having coasted him through the basics and the needs of war preventing him from building his own social skills.

Then there was Konoha's own little demon, Naruto Uzumaki. She snorted at the thought of the brat being compared to the monster that had rampaged through their village all those years ago but then again she knew first hand that people could be stupid. If they thought he was a monster she could set them straight and point them in the direction of a real one.

See how long their ignorant jeering lasted in front of that sick bastard.

"Excuse me! Is anyone here?!"

Anko blinked at the familiar voice calling outside of her tent, she knew that if you spoke of the devil he would appear but this was a bit much…

Quickly getting to her feet she made her way out of the tent and sure enough, the topic of her thoughts was standing just outside of her tent. His whiskered face set into a worried frown while she could easily catch sight of his chest heaving beneath his hoodie as though he'd run all the way here at full clip.

"Gaki? I didn't expect you of all people to give up." She was a bit disappointed to see that he'd apparently thrown in the towel. Leaving the forest was considered forfeiting by all rights and she would admit she had been looking forward to seeing if he'd make chunin or not.

"I'm not the original I'm a clone." He explained and she could hear the panic in his voice as he spoke, setting her on edge. "Boss sent me to warn the village!"

"Warn us about what?" She pressed. Regardless of her feelings towards the villagers themselves, she had a duty to take all threats to its safety seriously and she very much doubted the boy in front of her would risk his own promotion with a false alarm.

"Orochimaru has infiltrated the village and is currently hunting us down, we are making our way towards the tower but we have no doubt he's in pursuit." The copy explained and she felt her blood run cold while the normally dull pain in her neck began to throb angrily at the mere mention of the man that ruined her life.

"Are you sure?!" She hissed.

"Seeing as he took the time to introduce himself yeah, I'm pretty damn sure!" The clone scowled, there was no time to play twenty questions. "We managed to escape by sheer luck but he seems fixated on us for some reason."

Her mind went into overdrive as she considered why her traitorous sensei would be interested in a bunch of genin before she remembered who made up the exact members of Team Seven. The village's Jinchuruki and the only other pair of sharingan eyes left in the world that didn't belong to a mass murder and she was pretty sure she could hazard a safe guess at which her old mentor was after.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" She hissed as she turned grabbed a headset sitting on her desk. "All available personnel be warned, Orochimaru has infiltrated the exams! Repeat, Orochimaru has infiltrated the exams!" She shouted into the comms getting the word out to her squad.

She turned to the clone and took him by the shoulders. "Run and tell the Hokage, he needs to know about this right now and pay attention to this, this is important." She hissed. "_Do not_ let him bite you, or the Uchiha! I don't care what you have to do but do not under any circumstances allow that to happen!"

She pushed him before he could respond and in a swirl of leaves, she had vanished. Her only goal getting to those kids before that bastard could. She'd be damned if she would allow the opportunity to end that man slip through her fingers.

_This was going to end today!_

_**-Hokage Tower-**_

"I see… so my old student has returned."

Hiruzen felt the full brunt of his age hit him as the copy of the blond relayed his urgent message. It had taken him mere moments to put together his student's motivations. For all of Orochimaru's complexity, he was still single-minded in his goals and that made him predictable in some respects. Orochimaru was never content with his knowledge or his strength always seeking more of both, in his youth that had proved more than adequate to propel him beyond his peers but later in life, it had twisted his star pupil into an unfeeling monster.

Now he was after the sharingan, the lynchpin of all his dreams. The ability to understand any jutsu with just a glance, copy it and make it his own. It was all he'd ever wanted, rolled into one convenient package just waiting for him to swoop in and take it.

"Forgive me, it seems my mistakes have caused you more trouble than I could have anticipated." He stood from his desk and discarded his kage robes in favor of his wartime armor. "I only ask that you hold out for a little longer Naruto-kun."

"I'll do my best but please try and hurry, I don't think he'll give us a second chance to escape." The clone urged before dispelling, its memories already on their way to the original.

"Let us hope I can say the same."

_**-Back with Team Seven- **_

"You can't be serious?!"

Sakura felt dread as she was finally filled in on the details of her teammates' encounter with Orochimaru. She, of course, knew who the man was as Naruto had introduced her to the wonders of Bingo books but that brought her no comfort now as she was made painfully aware of how out of their depth they were.

"I wish we were kidding." He grimaced. "But there was no mistaking it and if you were really attacked by a giant snake that all but confirms that it's him. There are no other holders to the snake contract to my knowledge, least of all in these exams."

Why was it always them…

His eyes widened as the memories of two sets of clones hit him and he let a small smile grace his face. Satsuki caught the grin and she felt a small flutter of hope hit her, there was only one reason he could possibly be smiling right now.

"Please tell me you have good news." She pushed not wanting to be left in the dark right now, they desperately needed some positivity right now.

"I do." He confirmed. "Backup is on the way, the proctor of the exam and teams of chunin are making their way into the forest as we speak right." He relayed but his grin widened at the last memory that hit him. "Better yet, the Hokage himself is on his way to help handle this, we just need to hold out for a bit longer."

Sakura couldn't stop a shining smile from making its way onto her face while Satsuki smirked in a mixture of satisfaction and relief. They may not have been home free just yet but they were getting close they just needed to keep moving.

True to their word they had forgone making any sort of camp in favor of doing their best to make it out of this alive, they were tired but the alternative was more than enough motivation to push on through the darkness. Satsuki's enhanced eyesight allowing them to traverse with only minor issues, it wasn't as good as having a Hyuuga but it was better than nothing.

They'd keep up the same pace for at least an hour as they trekked through the shadows. Of course, they didn't want to attract attention to themselves by sprinting wildly through the forest but sacrifices had to be made with such a serious threat. They'd already resolved to run from any encounters with hostile teams, all that mattered was reaching the safety of the tower.

_Sssssssssss…._

Sakura frowned as an uncomfortably familiar hiss made its way to her ears from the underbrush, the hairs on her arms standing on end as she was reminded of a creature she was currently doing her best to forget.

She wasn't the only one who seemed to have caught the noise either, up ahead her raven-haired teammate had paused forcing the whole group to stop behind her.

"You heard that?" Sakura asked.

"I heard _something..._" She admitted red eyes scanned the forest anxiously. "But I'm really hoping I heard it wrong."

"Let's not stick around to find out what you two heard." He interrupted not liking how they'd stopped moving. "We have to be close to the tower by now let's get there first and then we can sit and talk about whatever we want."

"Right/Sorry."

Satsuki took her place at the front and the trio pushed forward once more.

_**-With Anko-**_

"Where are you…"

She let out a tense breath as leaped from branch to branch through her personal stomping ground but for the first time in years, she didn't feel the sense of peace that normally accompanied her time within it. Her mind raged with painful memories, ones that refused to stay buried and only further fueled the hatred she felt towards the source of her pain.

It had been years since he'd abandoned her but it felt like only days had passed since she'd hung onto his every word and in turn, he'd repaid her devotion by using her as some kind of guinea pig before throwing her away like yesterday's trash…

The consequences of her involvement didn't end with a new tattoo and a fucked up chakra network either. Her involvement with Orochimaru had tainted her reputation within the village, she could count on her hands the number of her fellow shinobi who probably didn't think she was a flight risk and that didn't hold a candle to the number of civilians who openly called her the second coming of Orochimaru.

She was never free of his presence and it drove her mad.

But the chance to change that had finally presented itself and she was going to make sure he wouldn't leave this forest alive. Even if she had to die to do it…

Her eyes scoured her surroundings looking for even the slightest leaf or twig out of place that might clue her in. She practically lived here outside of missions and she would be damned if he managed to evade her in her own sanctuary. Amber orbs narrowed in suspicion as she suddenly caught sight of odd, winding grooves in the earth. Too shallow and perfect to be a person.

But a snake…

She blasted forward, he was close! He had to be and she wasn't going to let him ruin another life if she could help it!

**-**_**With Team Seven- **_

"Sakura _duck_!"

Sakura didn't hesitate when the order came, folding her body just in time for a pair of striking fangs to glide harmlessly past the top of her head before a hiss of pain erupted from the now impaled snake that had planned to strike her neck. Its writing brown body convulsing as it tried to free itself from the blade driven mercilessly through its jaws before finally slacking as it resigned itself to its fate.

"We've got company!" Satsuki hissed quickly drawing more shuriken as more hissing serpents of every size scrambled out of the underbrush, some coiling their powerful forms around the thick tree trunks while they slithered up towards the team. Others fell from the treetops opting for kamikaze strikes with fangs bared while their faster brothers rushed along the branches to swarm the trio.

It was an assault from all sides and they were caught right in the middle!

Sakura growled quickly popped a soldier pill into her mouth, her exhausted reserves swiftly refilling as the bitter concoction worked its magic. Channeling her new burst of chakra to her hands she felt the familiar tingle that accompanied the Iron Shell technique and lashed out with a series of punches to the falling serpents. Their fangs shattering like glass on her tough skin while she batted them away as quickly as she could.

Naruto wasted no time in evening out the numbers with another round of clones, the newly summoned army charging in with kunai drawn as they hacked and slashed at the larger snakes making their way up the trees knowing that should they would be a major distraction if they managed to reach them. Meanwhile, he set to work washing away anything that managed to get past his clones with well-placed jets of water.

Satsuki blurred into movement moving through the air while flinging hailstorms of kunai and shuriken at anything that strayed into her sight. The predictive ability of her sharingan allowing her to predict incoming bites and react accordingly, those she couldn't hit she hypnotized quickly dulling their senses and leaving them open for her team to clean up.

Like a well-oiled machine the trio didn't stop moving even as the ground below them swarmed in a writhing mass of tentacles and teeth. There was no space for error and there was no time for doubt, each simply had to trust the others would hold their end of the tide back as best they could.

_**Earth Style: Shattering Strike!**_

Sakura fell to the ground with a loud crash, her fist cratering the earth below as the shockwave of her attack ruptured the ground sending wriggling bodies flying back. Naruto and Satuski wasted no time and appeared on either side of their third teammate, chests bulged out in preparation.

_**Combination Technique: Blistering Springs!**_

Roaring flames heated torrential waters in a wide spray of scalding hot water and steam, those snakes unlucky enough to meet the attack head-on screeched in agony as their skin quickly began to flake away, heat hot enough to scald but not kill instantly prolonging their suffering and sending them scurrying back as they tried vainly to soothe the intense pain. Even those on the fringes of the flash flood found themselves hindered as the steam and intense moisture sent their senses haywire, the superheated air and moisture making it near impossible to track their targets while steam obscured their vision.

The once organized assault quickly fell to chaos, a chaos Team Seven used to their advantage to bolt once more towards the tower. Leaving in their wake the charred bodies of their victims who were none the wiser…

All but one who continued the pursuit uncaring of its struggling brethren.

…

"He has an army of snakes?!" Sakura cried as they booked it deeper into the forest, the sound of hissing disappearing into the darkness behind them. "How is that even allowed, who the hell keeps an army of snakes?!"

"He is the _snake _sannin." Satsuki huffed trying her best to push past the exhaustion plaguing her at the moment. Despite her reserves increasing dramatically over the months she wasn't a walking chakra factory and the repeated use of her jutsu and sharingan were taking their toll.

By her side Naruto found he wasn't faring much better, the multitude of clones, wind and water jutsu, and his own rather liberal chakra enchantments were leaving him feeling lower than he had in a long time. He wasn't out by any means but he was starting to see the bottom of the barrel so to speak.

"How much further do you think the tower is?" She asked wondering just how much longer they would need to run like this. The Moon was already high in the sky and she wasn't sure if they could keep up the pace if they were just going to be ambushed like before. She wasn't suited to fighting that many opponents and she could see both her teammates running on fumes.

They had one, maybe two more fights in them at _most_.

"It can't be that much farther…" He sighed, he should have sent scouts out for this but that was the joy of hindsight. "More importantly where the hell are the proctors?" It had been more than long enough that they should have been here by now!

"The forest is pretty big, that's a lot of ground to cover." Sakura supplied but that didn't make any of them feel any better about their current situation. "We could try signaling them but that would make us easy to find for him as well." She suggested.

"Assuming he doesn't already know where we are." He pointed out. "If those are his summons than its possible that the moment they found us so did he." He wasn't naive enough to believe the man would send out a horde of his summons just to kill them. Not when he'd had the opportunity before and judging by the information Anko had relayed it was obvious the sannin wanted something specific from them.

"Is that possible?" Sakura asked, their knowledge of summons was limited and there wasn't exactly anyone they could ask right now.

"I wouldn't rule it out." He admitted. "We saw him literally wear another person as a skin suit so at this point I am willing to believe anything."

"Do you want to risk it then?" Satsuki asked finally offering her own two cents. "We don't know enough to make the right choice but we don't have the luxury of doing nothing either." She frowned and crossed her arms sending a look towards the blond. "If you are right then we're going to have to fight regardless."

_Is this what being a leader was like? Was this something that people actively sought, to hold other people's lives in their hands?... _

"Whatever you decide we're with you." Sakura said offering a supportive look. Satsuki nodded and gave a half-smirk of reassurance offering him some measure of comfort. He sighed reached into his pouch, retrieving a bundle of flash tags and explosive notes that could be used to signal their position.

"There is no walking back from this…" He warned.

They nodded and he surged his chakra through two of the tags before with a grunt he flung them high into the air, far past the treetops.

_**BANG! BANG!**_

The air above lit up with light and fire as the twin tags burned up in the atmosphere, marking their position for anyone in the nearby vicinity be it friend or foe. The choice was made and there was nothing to be done about it now…

"That was a poor choice Naruto-kun…"

The trio flinched as almost immediately the ramifications of their actions came to haunt them. From the shadows they watched with trepidation as a single white snake slithered lazily into the clearing, its tongue tasting the air as its slit golden eyes glared at them with almost murderous intent. The voice of the snake sannin passing through its parted lips sending almost tangible malic through the air as it looked at them.

"Had you simply continued on as you were we could have dragged this little game out…" The jaws of the snake stretched wide and to their horror, a single slime covered hand shot out of the creature's body, the length of which should have made it impossible.

"You had to make this difficult." A second arm shot out and slowly the twisted form of Orochimaru came into sight, a frown marring his pale features as he wiggled out of the confines of the serpent's stomach. "And now I can't afford to play with you anymore."

"That's sick…" Satsuki felt bile rise to her throat at the sight, barely forcing it down before it could escape but the feeling of disgust wasn't quelled in the slightest.

"So squeamish, this village is as soft as ever." He shook his head and stepped forward. "It's no wonder this was so easy, my dear Sensei never did have the spine to make real change… but this is neither the time or the place for that conversation."

Killing intent flooded the clearing and visions of agonizing death assaulted the trio of genin as Orochimaru drew closer. "Now be good little children and listen to your elders." He snarled his facade of patience long gone.

"F-Fuck you!" Gripping the last of his explosive tags he ignited them and hurled the primed kunai at the approaching Sannin. The blast rocked the area and pushed the three of them back as smoke enveloped their vision, it was foolish to hope that he would be delayed by such a tactic but the gloves were off and they would take any opportunity.

"You are testing my restraint now."

From the smoke, a single pink fleshy whip-like appendage ripped through the smoke like a bullet before wrapping tightly around Naruto's wrist. He didn't even have time to scream as he was abruptly yanked forward into the dissipating smoke screen. His teams panicked shouting lost in the rush of air that accompanied his journey into the waiting fist of the Sannin.

Star bleed into his vision as pain erupted in his jaw as the Sannin beat him mercilessly, a savage blow to his gut forced blood and spittle from his open mouth before his head snapped to the side as he was viciously backhanded. Orochimaru wasn't finished however and finished his assault by slamming the boy into the earth relishing in the shout of agony that accompanied the cracking earth below.

He was petty but he could afford to be such a thing at this moment.

Sakura and Satsuki sprung forward unwilling to watch any further, attacking from both sides in hopes of boxing the Sannin in. Those plans were met with equally brutal retaliation by the aggravated Sannin grabbing the pinkette by the heel he violently whipped her into her other teammates sending the two flying back in a tangle of limbs.

In the corner of his eye, Orochimaru witnessed the blond struggling to his feet and a flash of indignation shot through him. The image of a stubborn redhead and her foolish husband running through his mind, he drew one of the kunai he'd pilfered from their earlier skirmish and kicked the still down blond onto his back, a wheeze of pain escaping his lips as he glared defiantly through blurry eyes at the sick gleaming yellow orbs.

"I may not kill you today but that does not mean you will leave here without a gift of your own." Orochimaru spoke cruelly launching the kunai with the slightest flick of his wrist into the blond's stomach, the metal carving through flesh easily as the blade buried itself to the hilt inside of him.

"_GAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"_

"Naruto!" Satsuki screamed out in horror at the inhuman shout of pain that escaped the blond, his form convulsing on the floor as Orochimaru put further pressure on the wound by placing his foot on the still embedded weapon. A twisted smile on his face as the thorn in his side suffered at his feet.

_There were worse fates than death_.

"GET OFF OF HIM!"

Orochimaru was forced to back off as the Uchiha Heiress fell upon him, her face contorted into a mask of hate and rage so genuine that he almost found himself taken aback by the sight. Her attacks were precise but were back by such intense ferocity that he had to pay at least some attention to avoid her stikes, she wasn't a threat by any means but he was seeing the depths of her ability, her limits…

"What's wrong Satsuki-chan? Are you upset I hurt your little friend?" He taunted blocking her strikes while pushing her back. "Or is there more to it?" He mused remembering her earlier protectiveness of the jinchuriki. He had written it off as mere comradery but the Uchiha rarely felt so strongly for those not of their own blood, just what was he to her?

He could hazard a few guesses and the prospects intrigued him greatly but would have to explore those another time.

"You bastard!" She kicked off his arm and immediately flew through hand sign before the area in front of her was bathed in a stream of fire, Orochimaru's lanky form being caught directly in the line of the flames. The heat of her fire scorched the earth in seconds as she refused to relent until she was sure everything before her was nothing but ashes.

"Tsk, how rude."

Satsuki choked as pale fingers burst from the earth and fastened themselves around her neck cutting her jutsu off as he windpipe was slowly crushed. Orochimaru's gaze twinkling with amusement as she struggled pitifully in his grip, her ruby eyes glaring at him with all the fury she could muster as he slowly squeezed the life out of her.

"You really are nothing like _him_." He said and the slight widening of her eyes told him that she knew exactly who he was referring to. "As you are now you'll never compare to the heights he's reached, but I am willing to aid you, to mold you into something that even he could not imagine." With every word he spoke his canines grew ever so slightly, his teeth resembling the fangs of the serpents he commanded.

"Let me give you a taste of what I can offer you!"

…

_Drip… drip… drip… _

Naruto groaned as he struggled to his feet, the low light of his surroundings stinging at his eyes as he oriented himself. The water beneath his feet rippling softly as he stumbled to his feet, the sight of iron bars and darkened halls appearing in his vision as he slowly realized where he was.

"Kyuubi…"

Glowing red eyes peered down at him with hate and annoyance, the deep rumbling breath of the beast he remembered rattled his chest and he was given a reminder of the disparity in their size. The towering gate that divided them doing little to reassure him that those gates would not suddenly fly open at any moment leaving him at the mercy of the creature sealed within him.

"**Insect… you've grown slightly." **The beast mocked never taking his eyes off the child staring back at him. **"And you've landed yourself in trouble once again."** It spoke in a tone reminiscent of a condescending parent, one that had simply been waiting for the chance to be proven correct in their assertions.

"Naturally." He gave a grin not willing to allow the beast to get to him, he'd been through too much today to deal with this crap. "Have any thoughts on how to get out of this?" He posed more to himself than the creature but at this point, he was out of options and would take what he could get.

"**Tear that seal off and I promise you that serpent will be the smallest of your problems." **The beast growled offering another tooth-filled smile that sent shivers down his spine, how the Fourth had faced down such a hateful creature was beyond him but he couldn't afford to run with tail tucked.

"Maybe some other time." He retorted causing the fox to scoff, an action that sent heavy winds slamming into his face but thankfully he managed to hold his footing. "So I take it you _don't _want to help me out?"

"**What I **_**want **_**is my freedom, anything else is secondary but in my current state your death would be nothing but an unacceptable hindrance." **The fox stared at him with boredom as if even being angry was too much effort to waste on him. **"However, that man has made it clear he won't kill you so I see no reason to offer my assistance."**

"Tsk, fine if you won't help then at least get me out of here so I can do something." He growled, if the fox was just going to waste his time then he'd rather wake up and make himself useful.

"**And what **_**exactly **_**will you do?"** The fox sent a bemused smirk his way as though the lives of his teammates weren't in mortal danger at the moment. **"You already know that you will lose regardless so why bother, at least with you down I don't have to dedicate any more of my energy to healing your weak body." **

He glared up at the beast resisting the urge to yell at the haughty creature.

"Maybe I can't do much but I'm not a coward." He glared unflinchingly into the chilling ruby orbs as he stared down the most powerful creature alive with nary a twitch. "If you don't want to help then fine, but you have no right to stand in my way."

"**No right…" **The fox slammed a paw in a move that sent tremors through the entire complex that made up his mind. **"I am here against my will, my power is what keeps you from dying when you decide to play hero with your pitiful strength! Such ignorance… If I could I'd feed upon your bone marrow for such a comment!" **

"Well, you can't so tough." He snarked beyond caring for the fox's temper tantrum. "Either help me or stay out of my way but I'm not going to hide!"

The fox snarled and the air around them burned with hatred as the shadows shifted and the water below began to boil as red tendrils of malicious energy slowly crawled out from the cage towards the blond who unconsciously took a step back from the bubbling crimson energy that now sought him out.

"**You want my help? Fine, let's see how you handle this but don't expect me to take responsibility for what you do with it." **The fox laughed cruelly as the tendrils shot forward and swallowed the blond in their embrace, his shouting soon silenced as he was cocooned the raw, hate-filled power of the Nine-Tails.

"**Let this be a lesson, be careful what you wish for brat!"**

…

"**RAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Orochimaru paused as a wave of crimson light burst off the downed body of the blond he'd left in the dirt. He could practically taste the hatred and malice that filled the air, an unconscious chill running down his spine as dark arcs of vermillion buffeted the surrounding area leaving deep rivets and groves in the once smooth earth. The feeling of death that accompanied such foul power would no doubt be more than enough to send turn a lesser man into a sobbing mess. However, Orochimaru was no lesser man and he merely smirked at such an interesting turn of events.

_So the fox wishes to play… it's a shame that I am out of time._

His scouts informed him that his old mentor and student would be here soon and he couldn't afford to deal with an enraged jinchuriki _and _his teacher at the same. He would have to make his escape while he still could.

"Forgive me for having to cut this short my dear." He smiled at the still struggling girl in his grasp who was torn between fighting him off and looking at the slowly rising form of her teammate. "We will meet again I'm sure." With that he quickly sunk his teeth into her neck, his fangs piercing her skin with ease as he injected the enzymes needed for his mark while also infusing his chakra to apply the seal. He ignored her screams as he watched three black tomoe marks fade into existence where he'd bitten her, showing that his mark had taken.

"**RAHHHHHHHHH!"**

Another pulse of demonic chakra swept over them and unseen to even Orochimaru his new prey's mark flashed a deep red, then purple, before fading back to black, the tomoe spreading out ever so slightly that even if he had noticed he would not have had the time to investigate.

"Orochimaru stop right there!"

He turned and smirked at the sight of his old student arriving on the scene, her face falling into a horrified expression as she caught sight of the Uchiha in his arms and the now fully upright and snarling jinchuriki. Oh, how fate had the best timing, if only his old mentor was just a tad bit faster than this would be perfect!

"I think Naruto-kun a little upset so I'll leave him in your care, as well as my newest investment." He chuckled dropping the now convulsing body of the Uchiha to the ground in a heap, her hands clutching her neck while her eyes fluttered in agony. "Farewell, Anko-chan~" His smile never left his face as he dissolved into a puddle of mud the moment Anko's snakes bit into his dissolving body leaving her with a frightened pinkette, a comatose Uchiha, and very pissed off jinchuriki. A jinchuriki with a single swinging tail behind him and bloodlust in his crimson eyes.

…

"Fuck my life."

* * *

**AN. Chapter Complete!**

**So… here we are and I'm not going to waste any time because I am still sick as a dog while I write this lol.**

**Let's start with the main thing I need to address since this was a big point for a lot of people and yet here it is bold and unapologetic. Satsuki and her receiving the curse mark:**

**I got a lot of people on my case about not doing this specific thing for a wide variety of reasons so many might be upset or feeling that they were ignored or some other variation of anger at this specific choice. I want to be clear that this wasn't done because I wanted to ignore those people who were vocal, quite the opposite I am actually happy that people hold strong opinions on this because it shows investment so please don't assume that I just ignore you all.**

**There were two really core arguments I saw against Satsuki receiving the Curse Mark. The first being that "if you give her the mark you are going to ruin her character."**

**While I am glad people are worried about her character, I do think it's a bit silly that people think I would go through all the trouble of making Satsuki more likable and thoughtful to allow one moment to undo all that time and effort. I have said I want to improve characters and I don't plan to then undo all her development. I will add depth but I do not have any plans to reduce her to pure angst by any means. I can't talk in-depth because of spoilers but this is not really something to be worried about in my opinion.**

**The second argument was "If you give her the mark that means the story is going to follow canon and isn't going to have an identity of its own, just retreading the same ground we've seen before."**

**This argument I can understand given that I've followed canon up to here with my own adjustments obviously but I can see where people would be worried. That said, I can only ask that you take my word that I have plans for this, it's easy for people to make assumptions since the only way I can 100% counter them is to reveal things that spoil the story so I just ask that people trust I have much more original content planned that will shift the story and the world.**

**If you don't believe me and have confidence that the two issues above are going to come to pass regardless then by all means you are free to abandon the story as I don't want people to read this with a preemptively negative mindset. I want people to come in with a sense of curiosity and excitement and if this pushes you away from that and into a "Just wait for him to mess it up" mindset then I think there are better ways to spend that time.**

**This is not a dig at people who really just want to see this story become something but remember that anything past what has been written is just speculation and assumption and that I DO read everything and pay attention to what you have to say!**

**There is also the fairly obvious hint that Satsuki's curse mark application didn't go as perfectly as Orochimaru expected so keep that in mind.**

**The rest is pretty self-explanatory, so I'll only touch on two more things here. Those being the fate of Lemons for this fic and the Poll for Tayuya Vs. Samui:**

**For the fate of lemons, the answer is that YES there will be lemons in this fic. You all were pretty vocal about your stance on that so that settles it, no take backs lol. As I said before all the previous rules still apply as such lemons won't appear until Shippuden to mitigate complaints about age and such. They won't become intrusive and as always no romance is going to be rushed just for a lemon so hopefully, this satisfies everyone, if there are any questions you can ask me directly through PM or in reviews where I'll try and answer them by messaging you.**

**Next up, the Poll:**

**Firstly, thank you for actually participating in the poll! It means a lot that you all actually decided to vote and I just have to say I appreciate it, it makes me more confident about using polls going into the future. **

**Anyway, I am not here to reveal the winner yet, I want to give it more time since there is no rush right now. I will say however that the results are actually much closer than I was expecting (as of me looking before this goes up). SO IF YOU ARE SOMEONE WHO HAS STRONG FEELINGS BUT HASN'T VOTED YOU BETTER DO IT SO YOU DON'T MAD LATER! **

**I won't say who's leading through, I don't want to skew it so just vote for who you want. I like both and both have strong things they can add. Samui has the whole foreign relationship angle on top of being a pairing not seen often outside of smut. Tayuya has the whole mysterious past/bad girl angle to go for that makes her a popular choice as well so no wrong answers!**

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I wish you all a Happy New Year! (As I said I am sick so forgive any glaring issues, I will try and clean up anything major when I can even though I think I caught most of the big stuff)**


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but with that said I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway!**

**Hey! Welcome back to yet another chapter I'm sure many of you have been anticipating a lot of what's to come given the contents of the last chapter and the cliffhanger ending and I am sorry it's taken a bit for me to get back to this but hey, better late than never right?**

**Anywho, please enjoy the chapter (or don't, can't please everyone) and as always I'll see you all at the bottom in the authors notes!**

* * *

…

"Ugh, my head… what happened?"

Naruto winced as he slowly rose from his resting position, his hands immediately coming up to rest upon his thundering temples in an effort to soothe the painful pounding in his skull. He felt like he'd been kicked through a house or something…

Pushing past the pain he finally took notice of his surroundings and frowned at the unfamiliar setting he found himself within. Gone were the twisted roots and gnarled tree trunks of the Forest of Death that he'd become accustomed too over the past few hours and in their place was a simple set of four dark grey concrete walls. The room didn't appear to even have a window and the only source of light was a dim lamp sat in the corner of the room.

He shifted his attention to his more immediate surroundings and noted that he was resting on what appeared to be a hospital bed, the sterile white sheets and long cot reminding him of those found within Konoha's General Hospital... but he'd never seen any room that looked quite like this. By his bedside, there was a small wooden nightstand placed by his bed but it was left bare implying that he'd had no visitors.

"Where am I?" He whispered, slowly shifting his body to dangle feet first off the bed. He tried to dredge up the memories of what happened that may have led to this moment and within seconds he was assaulted by snippets of memories, flashes so brief that he almost wasn't sure if they were his. Pictures of pure rage, untamed hate, and intense pain that left him reeling once more clutching his head between his trembling hands.

"Kyuubi, what did you do?..." He croaked fighting to sort through his own tainted recollection.

He received no answer, nothing but a twisted echo of deep laughter that vanished almost as quickly as it came. He didn't need a response to tell him the truth he already knew in his heart. He'd lost control again… no, he'd given willingly into it.

Nothing had changed, he still wasn't strong enough to protect anyone… if anything he was more of a danger to everyone around him! Sakura… Satsuki, his blood felt like ice in his veins as he came to the realization that it was possible he could have attacked them in his trance. No clear memories of them having appeared in his brief but violent visions.

"No… no, I wouldn't!" He growled angrily. pushing himself off of the cot and onto the frigid stone floor below the soft thump of his steps echoed through the room as he made his way forward. It didn't take him long to find his now discarded shoes and clothes, those having apparently been removed while he was unconscious. Now fully dressed and more determined than ever he made his way to the door and gripped the silver-handle, pulling it wide open just in time to rush face-first into an incoming body, his face promptly driven headfirst into the solid figure.

"Feeling restless eh, Naruto?"

Taking a step back he quickly shook the stars out of his vision from the abrupt collision only to have his prior sensation of dread temporarily shift towards a sense of relief at the sight of a very familiar masked visage looking down upon him.

"Kakashi-sensei!" He greeted almost overjoyed to see a friendly face for the first time in what felt like ages. "Not that I'm not happy to see you or anything, but what are you doing here? Actually where is here anyway?" He asked rapidly but still allowing the jounin to push him gently back into the room with a soft shove promptly closing the door behind them with a soft click.

"Easy now Naruto, one question at a time. Firstly, how are _you _feeling?" Kakashi asked turning the questions back on him while quietly looking his student over for any unseen injuries. "Everything still working okay in there?"

"I feel fine, my head kinda hurts but even that is going away pretty fast." He answered honestly, flexing his arms slightly to show that he was in relatively good shape all things considered. "But what happened in the forest? Are we safe and where are Sakura and Satsuki?"

"Well, at least you haven't slowed down any so that's a good sign." Kakashi mused leaning against the wall and pulling out his little book as he took a moment to figure out how best to answer his charge's inquiries. "Alright, let's take it slow for a second, I'll answer your questions as best I can just one at a time please." He promised.

Naruto's first question was obvious. "Where exactly are we? I don't think I've ever seen a building in the village that looked like this."

"You are currently within the central tower of the Forest of Death, more specifically in the medical wing of the tower." He explained. "Naturally you three were pretty beat up by the time help arrived and it was decided that bringing you all here was a better option than trying to get you to the hospital."

Hearing the explanation Naruto couldn't deny that it made sense when he thought about it, it was natural to expect that after a possible five days of fighting and survival more than a few of the competitors might need some medical attention. Having somewhere nearby to treat them was just more efficient in the long run than having to run each of them to the hospital.

"What happened in the forest after I passed out?" He needed to know what happened during that gap, if they were still in the forest than he couldn't have been out for more than a couple of hours, maybe a day or two at worst.

Kakashi sighed mentally at the question even if he had been expecting it but knew his student needed to hear the truth. "What exactly do you remember?" He asked guessing that the blond likely had a bit more insight than he did up to a point given his first-hand experience.

Naruto frowned and scrunched his brow as he dredged up his recollection of the events. "I remember Orochimaru confronting us a second time … he didn't even bother toying with us at the end, he just took us apart like it was nothing..." His scowl deepened at the reminder of how powerless they'd been in the face of the pale sannin. "Then I… I spoke to the Kyuubi…" He admitted slowly, almost shamefully and Kakashi nodded in acknowledgment gave away nothing in his expression.

"How did that go?" He asked quietly.

"I have a feeling like you already know." Naruto didn't even spare the jounin a look. If he'd been brought here there was no way Kakashi hadn't been informed already. "How bad was it?" He questioned back unable to bring himself to face his mentor at the moment.

Kakashi was silent for a few moments before he answered. "Worse than you'd like… but not as bad as you might have expected." He revealed drawing a curious if a still somewhat worried glance from the blond. "You pulled on at least one tails worth of the Kyuubi's chakra according to the report and it seems that was too much for you to handle." He relayed confirming Naruto's fears of losing control.

"However, Lord Third arrived before you could do too much damage and you managed to avoid hurting anyone before you were eventually subdued." He finished and Naruto let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding as his worst fears thankfully remained unrealized, he didn't know what he would do if he found out he'd actually wounded or possibly even _killed _someone while not in control.

"That said you did give Sakura quite the fright and she's already expressed worry about your condition." He said prompting a new wave of panic to wash over the blond.

"Did… did you tell her?" He tentatively asked. He might have begrudgingly accepted his role as a container but he had no plans of ever _actually _revealing his status to anyone, let alone his peers. The adults of the village already hated him but he had proved that he could still befriend his peers… he couldn't lose them too…

"No." Kakashi shook his head. "It's wasn't my place or my secret to tell, that right falls to you but I thought you might want a heads up in case questions start coming your way." It didn't take a genius to figure out the whiskered genin wasn't fond of the idea that his team may discover his secret. Not that he fully blamed the boy for being so opposed to revealing it…

Another failure on the part of the village.

"I… I see, thank you..." He was grateful that his burden was still under wraps but part of him, a small part of him recognized that if he was capable of losing control than shouldn't his team have a right to know?

Temporarily pushing those less than comforting thoughts aside he noticed something about Kakashi's statement that unsettled him. "You said that I scared Sakura… what about Satsuki?" He questioned finding it odd the heiress wouldn't have her own questions about his… incident.

"That's… complicated." Kakashi sighed closing his book to look his student in the eye. "It also ties into your original question. Before you drew on the fox's chakra Orochimaru did something to Satsuki-" He started before being interrupted.

"What?!"

"Let me finish and keep your voice down." Kakashi chided, even if he understood how such news would be distressing his student needed to keep a level head. "Before you went wild Orochimaru saw fit to leave Satsuki with a parting gift, a mark of his own design that is supposed to corrupt the barer with its influence over time making them more susceptible to its influence." He explained.

Naruto frowned and raised a brow. "Like a parasite or something?"

"Something like that but unfortunately there is a lot we don't know about the mark or what changes he's made to it since it's creation." Kakashi then paused as if mentally preparing himself before continuing, his voice becoming grave. "There is something else as well…"

"Sensei…" He didn't like the tired look that seemed to have wormed its way onto his usually lax teacher's face.

"The mark comes with more issues than just eating away at its host's mind… upon receiving the mark the body has to either accept or reject the foreign and no doubt corrupted chakra created by it." Kakashi sighed but carried on. "This process is not only extremely painful for the person in question… but it also carries an exceedingly high mortality rate with a supposedly one in ten chance of the host's survival." He admitted reluctantly and Naruto's eyes widened in horror.

A one in ten chance…

"Are you saying she's going to die from this?!" Naruto rose angrily to his feet and Kakashi quickly shifted in response, placing his hand on his student's shoulder and forcing him to keep still as blond began to struggle.

"Naruto!" He barked in a tone he hadn't used since his time in ANBU but the training showed and Naruto flinched unconsciously in response, his wriggling grinding to a halt at the sudden harshness in his voice. "Listen to me… there is still a chance she'll pull through! This is not the first time we've encountered this seal and there are people who have survived its application before." He informed quickly and to his relief, he saw the blond begin to calm down ever so slightly at the revelation. Now armed with the knowledge that they weren't just sitting around waiting for her to die he seemed much more willing to listen to reason. "We've done everything we can for her right now but the rest is up to her."

Taking a chance, he slowly let go of his student and was pleased that he didn't try to run off immediately though he still seemed distraught by the news.

"Can it be removed?" He asked hopefully. If they could take it off than all of this wouldn't matter, right?

If only it were so simple.

"No…" Kakashi answered, grimly shaking his head to dismiss the notion. "Not even our best seal master has figured out how to remove it safely and until she wakes up there is nothing we can do about it that won't push her body past its limits." Kakashi ran a hand through his hair, his exhaustion with the whole situation slowly catching up with him but he needed to remain strong lest his team fall apart without him.

"Damn it… is she here? Can I at least see her?" He pleaded.

"She's a few rooms down, she was cleared for visitors yesterday even though other than some select individuals her condition is not known to the public and shouldn't be until the Third deems it safe. Sakura is with her right now, come with me." He made his way to the door and Naruto followed close behind.

The pair made their way out into the long hallway that was the tower's medical wing, a dark place that seemed more like a prison than a medical ward but it was to be expected seeing as it wasn't meant to be an actual hospital or clinic. The dim yellow lighting made the experience all the more nerve-wracking as Kakashi led them deeper into the depths of the tower.

Eventually, they arrived at a door being guarded by two masked figures, their beady black eye holes bored into them as they approached. He felt shivers run down his spine as they looked at him but he did his best to avoid expressing his discomfort at their presence.

"Kakashi-san, Uzumaki-san." The first greeted in a monotone voice, male judging by his body shape and the sound of his voice.

"He's been cleared, may we enter?" Kakashi asked in his usual jovial tone but to those experienced enough to read the man they would have been able to tell the silver-haired jounin wasn't truly asking for permission and that this was merely a formality.

The ANBU member was quiet for a few moments before nodding. "Very well."

Kakashi smiled and nodded, pushing the door open allowing the two to step inside, the soft click of the door closing behind them echoing through the halls.

…

"Sensei you're back already? Sakura turned at the sound of the door opening expecting to see the lanky form of her silver-haired sensei but her eyes grew wide at the sheepishly grinning sight of her other teammate shuffling his way into the room. Her breath unknowingly caught in her throat at his approach and her arms began to tremble at her sides...

"Naruto…" She whispered, not once daring to take her eyes off of him.

"Hey, Sakura…" He greeted quietly unsure of how to best approach the seemingly shell-shocked form of his pink-haired teammate. He timidly raised a hand to wave at the still-frozen form of the pinkette even as the tension began to grow thick between them and his earlier anxiety returned with a vengeance as he caught sight of her shivering…

A pit of negativity formed within him as the two stood in silence, neither sure what to say to the other for different reasons. Naruto wanted to reach out, to pretend nothing had happened but...

"It's been a while hasn't i-_oof!_" The air left his lungs as a pink blur suddenly crashed into him nearly driving him to the ground as his arms instinctually came to wrap around the petite female that now had her face buried into the nape of his neck. Her own arms still shaking arms wrapped tightly around his torso as she practically squeezed the life out of him.

"Thank kami you're okay…" Sakura's muffled words still managed to reach his ears and he let a sad smile work it's way onto his face as he realized that Sakura hadn't had it much easier than either of them by the looks of it… her face had seemed worn and haggard, dark bad had begun forming under her usually bright eyes indicating a lack of proper sleep, and her hair lacked its usual luster that she prided herself on.

She honestly looked like she would fall over any second...

He tightened his grip on her, running his hand reassuringly over her back as they took a brief moment to reconnect after their shared ordeal. "I'm okay... and I'm sorry, for everything..." He mumbled knowing that even still she had heard him judging by her grip growing slightly tighter. He'd have to make it up to her at some point and he would gladly do what he could to atone for his failures.

Kakashi stayed silent during all of this, preferring to watch the tender moment from the sidelines with a soft smile. It was almost impossible to believe that only a few months ago these three could hardly stand one another but seeing them now made his a little less afraid of what the future held for them, he'd seen teams fall apart for less but it seemed that the bonds between these three were made of stronger stuff.

His lone eye drifted to the third member of his team and his mood quickly sobered, perhaps it was a bit too early for him to say that though…

After a few more seconds, Sakura eventually released her hold and the two shared a final brief but bright exchange of smiles before she turned her attention back towards the main source of her building stress, Naruto following right behind with a sudden sadness in his eyes. Blue orbs locking onto the room's main occupant.

"Princess…" He swallowed hard as he approached the still form of the Uchiha Heiress currently occupying the single bed and placed a shaky hand upon the side rail just inches away from her own.

If Sakura seemed worn down than Satsuki might as well have had one foot in the grave…

Satsuki had always been rather pale but now her skin was almost sheet white to the point where her veins could be easily seen through her skin which gave her a very sickly appearance. Her hair was matted and slick with sweat and what he assumed was water from the damp cloth that was currently resting upon her forehead while her cheeks were bright red as though she was suffering an intense fever. She was almost completely still barring the occasional twitch in her jaw or clenching of her teeth that gave brief hints at the pain she was currently in.

She was a mess…

His eyes narrowed in anger as he laid eyes on the source of all her current suffering, three black tomoe marks sitting proudly on display upon her neck as if to mock them in their failure to protect her. His fingers gripped the cool metal beneath his hands harshly as he tried hard not to allow himself to fall back into his anger. He would not make the same mistake twice if he could help it but it didn't make seeing her like this any easier.

"She's been like this for almost two days," Sakura informed him, quietly taking her previous seat beside the still comatose Uchiha where she had spent almost all her time when she wasn't visiting him. "They don't know when she'll wake up but they feel hopeful since she's lasted so long…" She tried to sound positive but it was clear her heart wasn't in it. As if she didn't dare to hope after Kakashi had informed her of the reality of the situation.

His frown deepened but he said nothing instead making his way slowly to the opposite side of the bed, never once taking his eyes off her as if she might fade completely should his gaze wander for even a second. Seeing her flinch as another bout of pain wracked her already weakened body he scowled and ever so gently took her right hand into his own, softly squeezing the almost lifeless appendage to let her know he was there even if she couldn't tell.

"You can't lose to this…" He whispered giving her yet another squeeze the faint pulse of her wrist giving him the slightest bit of hope, a sliver to cling too. "You're too stubborn to die from this. All your talk about your ambition, your goals… you better wake up Princess…"

Of course, Satsuki gave no answer or any outward indication that his words had pierced the darkness that kept her trapped within her mind. She remained ever motionless lost in her own world while the rest of Team Seven could only watch and wait for her to recover…

* * *

…

Satsuki's eyes snapped open as her body suddenly lurched forward her very bones aching in protest as she did so but she paid it no mind in favor of studying her new surroundings with suspicion. Stretched out before she was an open, grassy field stretched on for what looked miles without end expanding off into the horizon far beyond her ability to measure, its borders lost in the distance.

This was clearly _not _the Forest of Death.

There were no flowers in this field, no birds or insects, and no people either… just a long stretch of land with tall swaying grass that moved almost hypnotically in an unseen breeze. The sky above was dark, not cloudy or the type of darkness that came with the light of stars, but rather a swirling miasma of what resembled a pitch-black smoke that writhed and twisted in the air. It hung low, low enough that it brought her an unconscious sense of dread as though at any moment it would simply fall and slowly choke anything that it touched with its mere presence.

The air felt almost charged with negativity… sadness, rage, hate, envy, and everything in between resided in this space... She felt the hairs on her neck stand on end as she heard what sounded like thunder rumbling, hidden within the smoke. The longer she stared at ominous sight the angrier she felt and she quickly averted her eyes as she realized this..

Where was she?

_Hisss...ssss…_

Onyx orbs snapped to her heel and she jumped back at the sight of a sickly looking white snake writhing in the grass by her foot, its pale form having somehow managed to sneak its way past her defenses while she was distracted. Once she managed to calm down she instantly noticed that It's slick ivory-colored scales were dotted with spots of what almost looked like rot?... As if it was being eaten alive by something? The edges of the corruption were a bright, angry red and she watched in muted silence as it struggled through the grass towards her letting out yet another pained hiss as the corrosive substance continued to spread further with each passing second…

Whatever this snake was… it was clear that it was dying.

Pained yellow eyes locked intently onto her own and for a moment she felt an overwhelming compulsion to try and help it, to reach out and accept it and perhaps ease its pain in any way that she could. She lowered her arm towards it and it slowly began to slither its way forwards her pushing past the pain in an effort to reach out and accept her invitation.

The serpent was mere inches away now, it's forked tongue flicking rapidly as it approached her open palm but as she continued to look into its pale eyes she was abruptly assaulted by memories… memories of similar-looking yellow orbs bearing down on her with malicious intent and fanged teeth stretched wide. In an instant pity shifted into a rage as white-hot fury burned angrily through her veins.

She suddenly stomped forwards and without the slightest shred of mercy or compassion in her soul, she crashed her foot upon the injured creature's neck with a shout, taking an almost unnatural joy in the sound of its pained cries of surprise and betrayal. Images of that pale figure flashed through her mind only spurring her act of violence on while the serpent's tail and body began flailing wildly as it attempted to escape, its jaw opened wide as if to strike but she made sure that her pin remained strong.

She smirked as it's struggling grew weaker with each passing second, it's enraged hissing becoming softer and less frequent before at last, the snake simply stopped moving. Either accepting its fate or simply because it lacked the energy to do so any further she did not know and truthfully she didn't care. Not yet satisfied, she violently ground her heel against its neck and was rewarded with a sickening crunch that she could almost feel beneath her sandal, watching quiet relief as the light within its eyes dimmed.

When she was sure there was no life left in its body only then did she lift her foot, lightly kicking the corpse just for good measure before she scoffed and turned her attention away from the now dead creature. The grass still swatted and the smoke still churned yet somehow the atmosphere felt just a touch lighter than before like everything was just ever so slightly cleaner.

She then blinked in surprise as a single ray of light suddenly appeared off in the distance, it was faint but there was no mistaking it in the darkness that reigned here. She spared a glance towards the still cooling corpse of her kill then looked towards the light once more…

"It beats waiting I guess." She muttered.

With a sharp breath, she began to walk towards the horizon and more importantly towards the light, the swaying grass parting in her wake as she made the journey towards the only possible exit from wherever she was. She had nothing to lose at this point anyway so what harm could it possibly do? The trip would be made in silence but it was a tense uncomfortable silence, one that brought forth encroaching feelings of anxiousness and despair. She spent what felt like hours wading through the dark but still, she walked, she walked until she long ago forgot where she started.

And then she was there, before her a towering yet gently illuminated column of light that somehow managed to pierce even the unyielding darkness that hung over these plains. She could feel a subtle warmth emanating from it as she approached that soothed her nerves, beckoning her forward… to embrace it… to take her away from here.

"_**Where are you going?**"_

She felt her heart jump into her lungs as something suddenly gripped her, cold fingers wrapping tightly almost painfully so around her wrist as she hurriedly swiveled on her heel fearfully tearing her arm away and retreating ever so slightly, her heart racing in her chest at the unexpected fright. Her breathing labored she turned swiftly turned her sight to whatever had grabbed her and her eyes grew wide at the scowling visage that stood across from her.

Positioned before her with a single arm left outstretched was what could only be described as her double… her mirror image in almost every way that mattered but just different enough to create a feeling of unease within her. Her skin was deathly pale, far paler than her own to the point where she almost appeared to be pure white which stood out in the muted realm that she currently occupied. Her facial features were near mirrors of her own but were far colder than anything she'd ever expressed… such pure unfiltered hatred in her gaze that she unconsciously found herself stepping back in slight fear.

"_**Answer me, where do you think you are you going?**"_

Her voice matched her own but each word carried with it an edge, it was more forceful, more demanding. It was almost overwhelming in the amount of ego present within it, as if she was some spoon-fed noble speaking down to a common peasant, each word hurled like an insult of some kind.

"What are you?" She frowned while her mind worked to process the abrupt appearance of this reflection of herself but found herself drawing blanks. "You look like me but you're…" She hesitated at the last second unsure if she should finish her thought.

"_**Not? Is that what you want to say?**" _If possible the frown upon her face grew deeper and her expression darker. _"**Well, sorry to disappoint but I am exactly what I look like… I'm you. The better you, the real you.**" _She sneered and Satsuki instantly felt a matching scowl make its way onto her face at the antagonistic borderline openly hostile tone being sent her way.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? _I'm _the real me, there is no other." She hissed and the copy's frown flipped into a dark smirk, bringing a hand to her hip as if she were bemused by her rejection.

"_**That's what you tell yourself, but as I said the truth is that I am you. The you that hasn't lost sight of herself and her purpose, while you sit around playing pretend and waste our time with pointless pursuits.**" _Around them, the languid miasma seemed to stir as if driven by some unseen force as it began to draw ever closer to the pair slowly enveloping the area in a thick fog that for the time being went unnoticed. Each far too occupied with the other to care.

"I haven't lost sight of anything!" She growled stepping forward as her pride and her drive were put into question. "My purpose is to kill Itachi and avenge my clan, nothing has changed and I will accomplish my goal."

"_**Except something has changed, hasn't it?." **_The copy spared her a pitiful glance but one not bereft of the usual disdain that she'd come to expect from this twisted fabrication. _"__**You say that you still value our purpose, but it was only mere months ago where you were willing to throw all of our work, all of our dreams away to protect someone else was it not?" **_

There was only one instance in which she'd ever done something like that…

"I would have lost that fight regardless and the outcome could have been worse." She counted heatedly unwilling to accept blame for doing what she thought was right at that moment. "I did what I needed to." She defended promoting her reflection to scoff.

"_**What you did was let your feelings for him get in the way of our ambitions." **_She sneered matching her other with a step forward bringing them ever closer._**"You've become complacent in his presence, satisfied just with being second best to the point that even Sakura, as worthless as she is, is now gaining on you with every passing day!" **_She berated harshly.

"_**Your showing in the forest was pathetic! You did nothing of note or value other than get captured and now here we are… but I suppose something useful came out of it now that I can finally reach you." **_

"You don't know anything about me!" Satsuki shouted having finally grown tired of being spoken to like some kind of failure by whatever the hell this _thing _using her face was. "I'm not settling as second-best to anyone and I sure as hell am not pathetic!" Her words came off strong but rather than being cowed by her defiance her reflection grew bolder, seemingly incensed by her constant excuses.

"_**Do you not listen or are you just so stubborn that you've chosen not to hear me? **__**I AM YOU!**__" _She bellowed angrily dark purple wisps of chakra practically billowed off her in her fury. _"**Your thoughts are also my thoughts and your feelings are unfortunately mine to bear as well. There is nothing about you I am not aware of and this is why I know that between us… I'm simply the better one.**" _The air of superiority returned and the almost noxious chakra faded as her reflection seemed to calm herself after her rant before continuing. "_**You on the other hand… you're like a little sheep, lost without direction and lying to yourself to cover up the things you don't want to deal with.**"_

The smoke drew ever closer and the light that once radiated such warmth suddenly began to dim, slowly being consumed by the oncoming storm of darkness and growing ever weaker with each passing moment causing her to take her eyes off her double for a split second.

A mistake on her part.

"_Urk!_-" She gasped as cold hands fastened tightly around her throat and she was pulled forward, right into the snarling face of her enraged other, her heated breath feeling like hot embers upon her skin as she tried to escape her iron tight restraints.

"_**Looks like our time is running out but don't worry, we will talk again soon.****" **_A malicious smirk clawed its way onto her face as she slowly hoisted her choking captive into the fading light delighting in her struggling and reveling in the look of anger flashing in her eyes. _"**For now you can stay in control and live your little fantasy of friendship and comradery and see where it gets you. Just know that one day, I'm going to get out and when I do I'm going to burn it all down in front of you and take what this world owes us."**_

Satsuki's world erupted into light before she could respond to the threat her vision overwhelmed with the now blinding light but the sound of muffled cackling made her blood run cold in her veins, an impending sense of dread settling in her stomach…

_Just what the hell was she?!_

* * *

…

"Prin… you… ake…"

Satsuki groaned as jumbled words assaulted her ears but her mind failed to put them together, she felt someone or something take hold of her. For a moment dainty eyelids cracked open ever so slightly before recoiling slightly as the sudden brightness after days spent within the dark hit her. A slight scowl wormed its way onto dry cracked lips but after a few moments she was ready to try again, slowly revealing onyx colored orbs back to the world as the room around her came into focus.

"Hnn… what?" She blinked away the remaining fog from her vision and found herself being greeted by the relieved and slightly teary expressions of Naruto and Sakura who seemed only seconds away from shouting to the heavens in joy. "Sakura… Idiot…" Her words were slightly slurred but still clear enough to be understood.

Naruto scowled but the happiness in his eyes showed he wasn't phased in the slightest by name-calling. If anything he seemed to cheer up even more at the familiar address she'd given him. "Hey, Princess… how are you feeling?" He asked gently helping her into a sitting position with Sakura's help.

"About as good as you two look, so like shit." She scowled wincing as her bones popped and cracked after days of inactivity but refusing to allow that to stop her. "What happened?" She asked looking them over for the first time in what felt like ages. They both looked exhausted and stressed like they hadn't slept at all.

"Definitely still our usual Satsuki." Sakura sighed but despite the blunt callout didn't rebuke the statement knowing that they probably did look terrible at the moment, nightmares and stress could do that. "I'll fill you in on what you've missed, Naruto can you let sensei know that she's awake?" She asked sending a glance at her male teammate who needed and quietly excused himself leaving the two alone for the moment.

"Alright, spill it." Satsuki had enough of being kept in the dark.

"So it's like this…" Sakura proceeded to explain the events since their encounter with Orochimaru in the forest and all the way to the present going over her comatose state and the apparent function of the newest addition to her a person, something she was currently looking over with a mirror Sakura had on hand and frowning to herself as she inspected the mark.

"And there's no taking this off I'm guessing." She reasoned gently running a finger over the slightly rough patch of skin around the seal. "I'm just going to have to walk around with this from now on?"

Sakura nodded sadly. "According to Kakashi-sensei, there is no way to remove it and they didn't want to try messing with it while you were still unconscious." She explained taking back the mirror from a now thoroughly annoyed and exhausted Uchiha. "But hey, at least it matches your sharingan so that's something." She joked, trying to alleviate some of the tension which worked somewhat as Satsuki chuckled a bit at her teammate's poor attempt at making a terrible situation a little better.

"That makes me feel a bit better about having to walk around love bite from an old man Sakura, it really does." She snarked but there was no bite to it or at least none that was directed towards her while Sakura merely shivered at the mental image, her face growing a few shades paler at the unsettling mental image.

"Please _never _say that again." Sakura pleaded now _thoroughly _disturbed by the implication of a fifty something-year-old man going around biting young kids. As if it wasn't already creepy enough as is…

"I'm probably going to complain more later so I make no promises." She sighed but allowed herself to lay back and rest just in time for Kakashi and Naruto to filter back into the room, the silver-haired jounin returning with a large plate of food and his usual eye smile as the door closed behind them.

"A little birdie told me sleeping beauty finally woke up." Kakashi chirped. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been marked by a missing-nin who apparently wants to take over my mind and I've been in a coma for the past few days." She responded letting Kakashi know that she'd been informed of her new situation prompting the man to sigh but nod, at least she was caught up which saved him some time.

"You seem to be taking the news well at least." He praised setting the tray down and handing her a bowl.

"For now anyway, I'll tell you how I'm feeling about this again in a few hours." She said graciously accepting the bowl of soup he handed her as she set to work filling her empty stomach while the rest of Team Seven made themselves comfortable around her. After a few spoonfuls, she paused then looked up. "So what happens now?" she asked unsure where they were supposed to go from here. Sakura had mentioned that she'd been out for about three days which meant there should still be time left. "Are we still in the running to become chunin?"

"That's what you're concerned about?" Sakura sighed placing her face between her hands in exasperation while Naruto snickered behind his closed fist not at all surprised the heiress's seemed more concerned with missing her chance at promotion than being attacked by a missing-nin. It was just who she was.

Kakashi smiled.

"Given that you did manage to collect both scrolls before being waylaid by Orochimaru Lord Third has given you three a pass to the next stage." He revealed drawing a smirk out of the Uchiha who was glad to hear that their efforts wouldn't be in vain.

In truth, the Third had come _very _close to pulling all three of them out for their own safety but he had stepped in and vouched for his team pleading with his leader to wait and see before denying them a chance to proceed. Of course, had Satsuki or Naruto showed any signs of instability they would have been pulled out regardless but that didn't seem to be an issue as of the moment.

"That said, I think it's fairly obvious that we want to keep word of Orochimaru's presence quite as not to cause a panic." He warned and the three nodded. No doubt the village would have a fit if the general populous knew that Orochimaru of all people was skulking about somewhere.

"What about her seal?" Naruto asked. "Now that she's awake can anything be done about it?"

"That's a bit more complicated, unfortunately." He frowned. "I wasn't lying when I said that we can't remove it but what we can do is seal it." He revealed drawing confused glances from the three who found the idea of sealing a seal rather odd.

"How does that work?" Sakura asked. "If you seal it then isn't that almost like removing it?" Her understanding of seals and their functions was bare-bones at best but she did know that seals could be used to lock stuff up. If they locked Satsuki's mark than it wouldn't matter in the long run.

"I guess I should clarify, the easiest way to think about this is that we can _suppress _the mark but not seal it away completely. This will make it harder for the mark to affect her so long as she doesn't give in to it or actively try to draw upon its power." He explained.

"So sort of like putting it into a bottle that only she can open." Naruto simplified and Kakashi had to suppress a chuckle at the simplistic way of looking at it. How he wished his sensei was around to see it if only to imagine the exasperated look on his face while he did so.

"Not too far off but it's not a perfect bottle, the cap is a bit loose and so if she isn't careful it could still spill out if she doesn't pay attention." He amended deciding to work with the analogy for simplicities' sake seeing as the three seemed to understand that more.

"Can we do it now?" She asked more than happy to lock down the seal as quickly as possible. She wasn't sure if what she saw in her dreams was a product of the seal or her own imagination but any control she could assert over it would bring her some peace of mind.

"Not if you plan to continue the exams, no." He revealed. "The process is going to take a lot out of you and while we don't want to leave you exposed to the marks influence it will only be a short while."

"Is that safe?" Sakura frowned.

"It's that or she drops out." He shrugged, the process would almost certainly leave her unconscious for another day or two and judging by the number of teams that made it through there was almost certainly going to have to be a preliminary round meaning she would have to grin and bear it for the time being if she wanted to keep going. Only so many exceptions could be made before people started getting suspicious.

"That's not happening." She scowled shutting down any ideas of her willingly exiting the exams. As far as she was concerned If she was awake then she could continue.

"I thought so." He nodded "Which is why I'm encouraging you to get some rest now, the next phase will begin tomorrow and you'll need your strength." He advised tapping his leg before putting his book away. "Now, I have to go and report on your condition but I'll see you three bright and early tomorrow."

He stood and swiftly made his way out sparing them only a short wave of farewell before leaving the three alone and wondering just what the rest of the exam had in store for them after all of this.

…

Orochimaru frowned as he sat within the confines of one of his old hidden bases that was currently serving as his hideout for the duration of his stay in his old home. It was almost amusing that even after all this time they still hadn't found all of his old labs but his amusement was being spoiled by a more pressing matter that was eating away at his nerves and his patience.

Specifically, the fact that he could no longer feel the mark he'd gifted to one young Uchiha any longer. Something that had nearly sent him into a rage when he noticed it.

It was just gone, one moment it had been there and then the next he felt a sharp pain within him and then nothing. He could feel his agents on the outskirts of the village and even his old apprentice was unknowingly within his sights but the Uchiha, who he knew for certain was located within the central tower, was suddenly cut off from his senses.

"Tsk…"

That could only mean one of two things, the first was that she had simply failed to survive the process. This was the worst possible outcome not only throwing a huge wrench in his plans but painting a large target on his back one that would almost certainly prove fatal if he was ever caught.

The other was that his mark had been removed somehow but that seemed highly unlikely as Anko still possessed her mark and in the years since she'd survived his testing he had made improvements to the seal. If hers was still present than it was difficult to entertain the idea that either the Third or his bumbling toad of a teammate had managed devised a true counter to his greatest work.

He would have to wait until the chance presented itself for answers but for the moment he would continue making the proper arrangements from the shadows. He would have time to do as he pleased when Konoha was nothing but a pile of rubble beneath his feet after all.

* * *

_**\- Day 5: End of the Second Stage -**_

The time had come and five days had passed marking the end of the second stage of the Chunin Exams. As expected there were far fewer teams remaining than after the first portion but still enough that a decent amount of competition remained still seeking to advance to the rank of chunin. Those that did make it to the tower whether by the skin of their teeth or time to spare were assembled in a large cement arena.

It was time to proceed with the next stage of the exams.

"Welcome." The aged but still powerful voice of Hiruzen Sarutobi greeted the remaining competitors, garbed in his usual red and white robes he raised a hand in a gesture of approval. "You have done well to make it this far but remember, your trials are not over yet so do not allow your prior success to lead to your downfall." He warned passing on some of his own experience in his words.

"I know many of you must be tired and exhausted but you must persevere, the harshness of this world cares little for the weak or the weary and so it falls to you to gather what strength you can to weather its storms." He continued and those competitors who had just barely made it seemed the most impacted by the Hokage's speech either slumping at the knowledge that they would be tested further or pulling themselves together as best they could with little energy they had left.

Towards the back, the members of Team Seven were scoping out their competition. It appeared that all of their graduating class managed to make it through which was good, sure it meant more competition but it proved they were either strong enough or resourceful enough to make it through.

They also caught sight of a few other teams of note, Naruto was quick to spot the team from Sand who were off to the left on their own. None of them seemed to be paying too much attention to the Third's speech but kept their eye's forward nonetheless. Except for Risa who had her eyes closed as if lost in thought but he didn't dare guess at what she was thinking.

He also saw the newcomers from Sound who looked a little beat up but for the most part, were unharmed so they also clearly hadn't struggled to advance.

"Now, I believe I should explain the true purpose behind these exams." The Third spoke and Naruto quickly tuned back in along with many of the other competitors who were confused by what he meant. Wasn't the purpose of these exams to see who was ready or worthy to move beyond being genin?

"I know most of you are confused by my words but you must understand that the Chunin Exams are not just a series of simple tests for a chance at promotion, their true meaning is far larger and far more important than that. The harsh reality is that these exams serve as a replacement for war." He revealed and quite a few flinched at the sudden shift in tone from the almost grandfatherly man. "Our world is one of constant violence and events like these have more than singular purpose, they allow not only you all to test yourselves against your peers but they also show the implied strength of each village that chooses to participate."

The Third's expression was grim as if he found the whole thing barbaric but he continued. "Each of you represents an extension of your village's power and pitting you against one another is a contest not just between individuals but between the villages as well. That is why the next portion of these exams will be one on one matches between you all."

A tense hush fell over the room at the contestants slowly digested the truth of why they were here. By the Third's side a pale, sickly-looking jounin stepped forward, coughing into his fist as he did so.

"Lord Third, if I may?" He asked and the Third nodded stepping back and making his way towards the back towards a flight of stairs leaving the assembled chunin hopefuls with the sickly man.

"Hello, my name is Hayate thought that is not important at the moment." He said coughing ever so often during his introduction that left many wondering how such a frail man had apparently become a jounin. "I will be your proctor for this stage of the exams however before we begin the true final stage you all will have to pass through a preliminary round of matches." He explained and immediately annoyed faces greeted him at this knowledge.

"Why do we need a preliminary round?" Shikari asked deciding to seek clarification though she had a few ideas based on the information that had just been revealed to them.

"The final stage of the Exams is open to the public and that includes important figures such as Daimyo, nobles, and even other world leaders all looking to see what each village has to offer." He explained calmly not at all bothered by the annoyed group before him. "For this reason, it falls to us to bring forth only the best and if you look around there are still quite a few of you remaining, far more than we expected."

"Culling the weak and the lucky from the pool…" Sakura whispered and Satsuki grunted displeased to be wasting time but still eager to see what the rest of her competition could bring.

"It goes without saying but from here on out the exam is no longer team-based, you will fight on your own and you will not be bound by the success or failures of your comrades." Hayate continued. "The fighters will be chosen at random and without village bias meaning you could very well be paired against even your own teammates so keep that in mind as we begin." He said looking around.

"Like the previous portions of the exam if you feel like you can not for whatever reason continue than you may back out now and make your way out the same way you came in. There will be a team waiting to escort you safely back out of the forest." He said pointing towards the large door they had all entered through.

No longer obligated to stay together a few individuals made their way out having had enough of the seemingly endless hurdles while others simply knowing their limits knew that they would be better of calling it quits now. Naruto noticed that among these people was a certain silver-haired genin who seemed relatively unharmed yet still bowed out and his eyes narrowed but he kept quiet for the moment.

Once all those who had quit left the area Hayate nodded and moved to proceed.

"Very well, the rest of you can make your way up to the spectator section and we will call the first pair of fighters down when ready." He ordered prompting all the teams to quickly make their way up the stairs, falling in line with their waiting teachers who were watching the proceedings from above.

"Kakashi-sensei." Sakura greeted happily while behind her Satsuki and Naruto nodded towards the laid back jounin resting against the wall who smiled and waved in return.

"Hello my cute little genin, you three look a bit better today." He noted seeing that Sakura and Naruto no longer looked like they were moments away from passing out and even Satsuki seemed back to her usual self after a solid rest and some food. "How are you feeling?" He asked calmly but he shot a look towards Satsuki who caught on to the true meaning of the question.

"I'm fine Sensei, it doesn't hurt and I haven't felt anything out of the usual." She admitted quietly and he nodded.

"Good, I know this is not ideal but the moment your fight ends we can get it sealed up." He promised, laying a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Just try and keep your chakra usage to a minimum for the moment, the less you use the better." He advised and she nodded.

"I'll try but I don't plan on losing either." She rebutted acknowledging the warning but making it clear that she was here to prove herself as well. She didn't enjoy being handicapped but she'd make due, she was an Uchiha after all.

Shaking his head at her usual attitude he turned his attention to his other two students. "How about you two, feeling alright?" He asked again this time much more relaxed than before.

"Ready to show off what we can do, isn't that right Sakura?" He grinned, putting his hands in the pockets of his hoodie while Sakura nodded in agreement at his side feeling the infectious energy spreading to her as well.

"Right, we won't disappoint you!" She promised more than ready to put the forest behind her and show off how much she had changed since the academy. No doubt her peers had also grown but she felt confident that the gap between them was much smaller now than it had ever been before and she was pretty confident in her ability.

"I don't doubt it, now look alive it seems the first names are about to be drawn," Kakashi warned shifting his attention away from his students and the trio followed suit, turning to look down at the waiting form of Hayate who seemed to be speaking into a small microphone on his collar.

Right on cue Hayata nodded and coughed loudly to gather the attention of the waiting competitors. His voice carrying strongly throughout the stone chamber.

"We are now ready to begin, and the first match will be…"

Everyone tuned in with anticipation to see if they would be called, Hayate seemed to be intentionally dragging this out just to taunt them but the inevitable could not be delayed and he announced the first pair of combatants.

"Will_** Kin Tsuchi**_ _**and Sakura Haruno**_ make their way down to the arena!" Hayata shouted drawing all eyes towards the two Kunoichi in question.

"Wait, I'm up first?" Sakura blinked in confusion having not expected to be pulled up for the first round. She may have wanted to prove herself but that didn't mean she wanted to be the opening act so to speak, a sudden spark of nervousness running through her at the thought of losing and utterly embarrassing herself, her sensei, and her team.

Kami she felt like she was going to throw up a bit...

"Sakura," Satsuki's voice snapped her out of her self induced nausea. "Stop overthinking it, just do what comes naturally to you and you won't lose." Satsuki didn't spare her teammate a passing glance but those that knew her well could easily tell that was her way of helping the pinkette.

"Don't overthink it… right." She nodded and Satsuki gave a grunt of approval.

"You're going to crush it Sakura-chan!" Naruto was much more direct in his vote of confidence offering her a thumbs up and a cheeky grin causing her to snort a bit at how cliche he was being but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless and humored him with a grin of her own.

"Good luck Sakura." Kakashi, as always kept his praise simple but she expected nothing more or less of her instructor and quietly thanked him as well for his wishes before making her way down the stairs and across from her waiting opponent who seemed slightly annoyed at having had to wait for her.

"Finally, I thought you were never going to come down. If you needed that long of a pep talk just to fight then maybe you shouldn't be here at all." Kin sneered and Sakura was momentarily caught off guard by the rather catty tone having not expected such immediate hostility but recovered quickly having gotten much better at dealing with such attitudes during the early months of her time as a genin.

To think Satsuki's bad attitude would come in handy for something.

"My bad, I just wanted to give you a bit more time to enjoy the spotlight before I had to take it from you. After all, getting knocked out of the running first is no doubt going to be more than a little embarrassing, to say the least." Sakura apologized, heavy condescension in her tone and she had to hide a smirk as Kin's face went from annoyed to infuriated.

"You think someone like you is any match for me? You look like the type to hide behind your teammates while you sit off in the corner pretending to be a real kunoichi." Kin hissed glaring at Sakura's long glossy hair which had survived rather well despite the circumstances. "I'm going to show you the difference between me and you."

Sakura merely scoffed and crossed her arms. "Let's see how long you can keep that talk up, but if you think I'm going to be easy to take down then I'll be happy to prove you wrong." She smirked noting how easy it was to rile up her opponent. She would keep that in mind going forward.

Hayate seeing things beginning to escalate between the two knew that now was the time to interrupt before they started without him.

"You can prove whatever you'd like to one another in a moment but I need to explain the rules first." He coughed stepping between the two glaring kunoichis. " Firstly, the match doesn't begin until _**I **_say so and in the same way, the match doesn't end unless _**I **_say so." He stressed this part making sure the two heard him before he continued.

"Secondly, any outside interference counts as an immediate disqualification." This part was directed at the audience listening in. "Thirdly, at any point, you may forfeit if you choose and should an opponent forfeit the victory is to cease all attacks immediately."

"Any questions?"

"Can we start now?" Kin hissed, her hands already reaching down towards her pouch to draw her weapons while across from her Sakura did the same, fingers sliding down her thigh towards her kunai holster.

"No patience… very well, begin!" He shouted and quickly hopped back ready to spectate the incoming battle.

_The first match of the preliminary round was now underway!_

* * *

**AN. Chapter Complete!**

**Sorry this took a while but I've been very busy with work over the past few days and my desire to write much of anything has been pretty low. Not sure if I need a fresh project or something to get me invested again but we'll see. Anyway, there is a lot to go over in this chapter and I will do my best to cover everything I think needs to be discussed.**

**Starting off, why didn't I show Naruto's rampage through the forest and instead cut to the aftermath?:**

**This was done for two reasons, the first being that I really wanted to just be done with the Forest of Death. The reality is I explored pretty much everything I needed to inside of it, we got to see Team Seven flex some new skills and newfound confidence, we then saw them get utterly dismantled and brought low, and Satsuki received her curse mark. Given the set up done in the last chapter, it just made more sense to pull them forward than start from that moment on.**

**The second reason was that I didn't want to establish a precedent for the power of Naruto's one-tailed state just yet. In trying to keep the tails powerful without being excessive I wanted to get at least the Chunin exam prelims out so I can get a good idea of how powerful everyone will be and then I can adjust from there. I know people will find this disappointing but I do plan to show what a rampaging Naruto looks like here.**

**Next up we'll touch on Satsuki given that there is some funky stuff going on with her seal:**

**Now I don't want to touch heavily on this because I like the story to unfold over time but I did try to be a bit more obvious with some things to help craft at least some ideas of where things **_**might **_**go. Orochimaru being unable to sense the fragment of himself within Satsuki, the appearance of the mirror Satsuki, the lack of negative effects she is currently suffering, etc. It's a bit heavy-handed for what I would like to do but given that people are still concerned even after my last AN I didn't think going for lots of subtly would be the best idea.**

**The mark is still going to serve a purpose and it's still going to be a part of her character and as I talk more on it in the story I will also go more in-depth as to what exactly is going on. **

**I do also want to address a question I've seen with people asking why I didn't give Naruto or Sakura the mark instead for the sake of being different and there were reasons for this as well. In regards to Naruto, I already have his character planned out very far in advance and him having the curse mark isn't exactly part of those plans. It's also extremely risky for Orochimaru to do something like that and so I quickly shut that idea down when I was planning.**

**Sakura could have gotten the mark but the reason I didn't go down that route is that like Naruto I have plans for her and also the story isn't really about Sakura. If she received the mark I would need to dedicate substantial amounts of time reviewing her mental state, choices, the impact on other characters, etc and for someone who isn't part of the harem or the main character, it's just not something I want to go into that heavily. (I would actually like to finish this story one day)**

**Lastly, the prelims:**

**So as you can see I plan to shake up some of the matches, both to allow character progression as well as power growth and that'll carry on right up and into the finals. I will admit this is going to be a tough part to write since I prefer to write character interactions over fights but I will do my best to make them interesting. I won't spoil the upcoming matchups but I hope you are interested in seeing them all the same.**

**That covers the main story stuff, let's talk briefly about the poll and the harem.**

**Once again I have to say thank you to everyone that participates I can't overstate how good it is to see people engage with it and as I said before I will almost certainly make use of it going forward when choices like this need to be made.**

**Like before I will not say who is winning between Tayuya and Samui for the sake of keeping things relatively fair so just vote for whoever you'd like to see. I have seen great reasoning for both and I am a fan of both though I do admit I have a bias for one over the other but I shall not say who or why yet.**

**For those who are newer and wonder why I don't do both seeing as people seem very torn trying to pick between them, the reason is that I made a promise not to allow the harem to grow unreasonably large. The way I write characters and romances (at least for this story) isn't suited to throwing in a bunch of characters at will and so despite what some may hope for only one can be selected.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I do hope you are looking forward to the next one. If you aren't for whatever reason then I sincerely wish that you find another story you enjoy and I thank you for supporting the fic up to this point.**

**I'll see you all next time!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but with that said I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway!**

**Hey! Welcome back to yet another chapter. Sorry this has taken so long and it is on the shorter side but college has started up once again and I'm currently taking 5 classes ontop of working so I don't have nearly as much time as I would like but I hope you still enjoy this regardless. It's better than when I used to just disappear for like a month and then just reappear with an update, imo.**

**Anywho, please enjoy the chapter (or don't, can't please everyone) and as always I'll see you all at the bottom in the author's notes and I do ask that you read at least the bottom portion of that since it touches on the poll I'm currently running!**

* * *

"Begin!"

The moment the words left Hayate's mouth both Sakura and Kin launched themselves at one another without hesitation, not needed any further prompting to begin their respective assaults. Sakura swiftly drew a kunai from her holster and rushed her opponent while Kin quickly brandished three senbon between her fingers and charged to meet her head on.

_Clang!_

The two clashed in the middle in a small shower of sparks as steel weaponry ground angrily between them each doing their best to shove the other back and claim dominance in this opening skirmish. To Kin's surprise, her opponent wasn't nearly as physically weak as she appeared, easily matching her shoves with equal and growing force, something she had not anticipated which swiftly left her on the defensive as her opponent utilized this error in judgment to bully her back towards the area walls.

Her weapons weren't suited for this kind of combat and for as much as she hated to admit it, she just wasn't physically capable of keeping up this endurance test forever. She needed to back away and fight her opponent on more advantageous footing.

With her new course of action in mind she waited for just the right moment to make her escape blurring into action the second Sakura overreached for a downward stab. Deciding that pressing a temporary opening was not worth possibly getting stuck in close quarters with her opponent for any longer, she settled for pushing the pinkette away with quick palm strike to the chest before hastily leaping back to create some breathing room for herself.

Sakura winced at the short blow but shook it off easily enough, it didn't hold a candle to what she was used to from her teams training sessions but a hit to chest wasn't ever going to feel great either. Narrowing her eyes at her retreating opponent she opted not immediately pursue her, despite having clearly been caught off guard by her strength the sound kunoichi didn't seem terribly distressed by it either. That hinted that she either had a solid poker face or she had a few more tricks up her sleeve.

She was willing to bet her entire career, it was the latter.

"What's wrong? I thought you were going to show me the difference between us?" She said suddenly, relaxing her stance while her demeanor shifted into an almost perfect replica of her teammate's bored expression. "I suppose that was nothing but talk then?" She scoffed seemingly left unsatisfied by the poor showing, something managed to break through Kin's air of superiority ever so slightly judging by the deep scowl marring her features.

She just needed to bait her into revealing more.

_**-Up in the stands-**_

"You've ruined my student." Naruto huffed as he watched Sakura's performance with half-hearted irritation. "Look at her, she's like a mini you just with less angst!" He cried dramatically earning a scowl from his teammate and a soft chuckle from his teacher at the comparison.

"Don't blame me because you're a crap teacher." Satsuki scoffed but did little to mask subtle smirk on her face spoke volumes about just how pleased she was about the whole situation, in particular how annoyed he was. "You can't blame her for wanting to follow in a better ninja's footsteps it's only natural." She preened, enjoying the look of indignation that flitted across his features.

"Better ninja my ass." He scowled crossing his arms almost childishly. "You won't be saying that when I win this entire thing." He said and she shot him a challenging look out of the corner of her eye.

"To win means that you would have to beat me first and that's not going to happen." She assured confidently. "You can watch me win if you'd like though, give yourself something to aspire to."

"Maa, you two settle down." Kakashi placed his hands on their shoulders to break them out of their little glaring match. "It's Sakura's time in the light right now so pay so show her your support now and fight later."

"Hn/Hai."

_**\- In the Arena -**_

"Keep talking, it'll only make it more satisfying for me when I finally shut you up." Kin growled practically grinding her teeth to near dust in her anger before pulling out a new set of senbon. Unseen to Sakura or the spectators above, these senbon were a bit different than the first and she was going to show this wannabe kunoichi just how outclassed she really was!

Sakura would have rolled her eyes at the pure level of ego that practically dripped off her opponent's words but she wasn't about to underestimate her either. Despite her bored appearance, her mind was working overtime to crunch all the data she'd gathered during their brief confrontation into usable information.

Her opponent was prideful even after being caught on the backfoot… that either meant she did in fact have some level of skill she hadn't displayed or she was trying to hide her own weakness behind the bluster. Judging by the difference in physical strength between them she definitely was not a close ranger fighter and she'd taken the first opportunity she could to break away suggesting a preference for medium to long-range combat.

Her weapon of choice was senbon which was odd given her seemingly aggressive nature but which hinted that there was more to the choice than what she could see which set her on edge having seen firsthand what an opponent skilled with the unassuming weapons could do. She would need more information to get a clear picture but she knew that her best chance of winning at the moment was getting in close and beating her down.

_Ding!_

Abandoning her thoughts for a moment she quickly dodged to the right, the chime of what sounded like bells ringing pricked briefly in her right ear prompting her to move away from the sound anticipating some kind of attack. Her assumption was quickly proven correct but her choice of action was not nearly as accurate and she winced when two needles embedded themselves deeply into the skin of her upper arm.

_She'd dodged that, hadn't she? _

"Oops, it seems like you messed that up… wanna try again?" Kin sneered and without waiting for an answer began launching more and more volleys of the almost impossible to track weaponry towards her still confused opponent. Each time the sound of bells prompted her to move in a certain way and each time she was rewarded with more and more senbon entering her person.

_Ding!_

Sakura bounced to the left having heard the chime of the bell come from the same direction, assuming this was yet another trick but growled angrily when more senbon managed to nick and stab her. Glancing down the source of her confusion was revealed to her.

_Little bells..._

Small bells had been tied to some of the senbon but not all of them. She quickly deduced the chimes were meant to prey on her natural instincts allowing her opponent to push her into the path of a second hidden attack. Even figuring out the trick wasn't super helpful since she was capable of subverting her expectations and mixing the bells in with normal volleys…

But how did she plan to take her down like this? Senbon while effective at what they did weren't exactly suited to drawn-out fights. So far as she could tell none of her vitals had been hit which surprised her… unless the sound kunoichi was simply drawing this out which wouldn't shock her.

Kin meanwhile was reveling in the look of confusion and frustration on her opponent's face, this was what she wanted after all and she wasn't even done yet! She still had one last card to play before she finished out this fight.

"Your type likes to party right? Why don't I give you something to dance to then?" Kin smirked and the fingers on her left began to twitch and flex rapidly as if possessed while her right hand formed the half ram symbol summoning a small wave of chakra.

_**Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!**_

Sakura grabbed her head in pain as a new almost frantic ringing burrowed into the depths of her mind like daggers, the once soft melodious chime of silver bells had been abruptly replaced with what almost sounded like a gong being beaten between her ears. The sensory overload nearly dropped her to her knees as she struggled to remain upright while her head began to ache and her vision blurred.

Kin flexed her fingers and the air in front of her shimmered ever so slightly, those above who were unaffected by the technique were quick to notice the thin wires that stretched from her fingers towards the now stumbling pinkette. Each wire possessing a faint blue tinge that signaled a faint flow of chakra being pushed through them. Those with the ocular acuity to glimpse the scattered senbon closely noticed the bells had wires and it became apparent there was far more to the trick than they'd all first thought.

"Sakura…" Naruto frowned as he watched the pinkette struggle to ignore whatever hidden assault she was enduring down below, to them other than a repeated, soft chime there was nothing happening but his teammate looked like she was about to fall over any second.

…

"It's funny how cocky you tree huggers are honestly." Seeing her opponent almost defenseless under her sound assault had tipped the scales back in Kin's favor and she was going to savor it. "Thinking you're all so tough but look at you now?" She began walking towards her downed opponent making sure to increase the speed of her fingers movements and in turn the pain of her technique.

She was a kunoichi from the _Sound_ Village, honestly what was she expecting?

Sakura finally fell to her knees in agony as the pounding between her ears grew nearly unbearable and Kin stopped right in front of the almost prone form of her almost defeated opponent, a sense of pride running through her as she proved the truth of her earlier words.

"It's your type I hate the most, can't even stand up on your own two feet." She scoffed, her gaze roaming along her downed enemy before a sick glint appeared in her eyes as caught a good look at Sakura's long flowing pink locks, that even despite her ordeals over the past couple of days maintained a healthy, silky smooth appearance. Idly, Kin ran a single finger ran through her own hair and a spark of irritation surged through her when she felt its rough texture, years of prioritizing her training had left little time for such luxuries as hair care… yet here she was in the same position this groaning mess before her.

She didn't deserve to have such nice hair, she hadn't _earned _that right.

In her anger she quickly pulled out a kunai from her holster and reached down to take those silky locks in hand, she wasn't just going to win she was going to outright _humiliate _her in front of everyone. Her fingers hovered mere inches away from the silky strands when suddenly Sakura lashed out and caught her wrist in an iron grip, annoyed almost furious emerald eyes looking up to meet her shocked expression.

How did you-"

"I _know _you weren't about to try and cut _my _hair." She hissed angrily cutting her off as she tightened her hold on the kunoichi's arm until the bones in her wrists felt like they were going to pop from the pressure alone.

Kin couldn't mount a response, not for lack of the right words or even because she was apologetic about her course of action… but rather because she was currently doubled over with spittle leaking from her open mouth as she found a chakra enchanted fist buried between her ribs.

"It was a neat trick but you aren't nearly as good at genjutsu as my teammate is." Sakura chided rising to her feet with a grunt of effort before suddenly slugging the still retching sound-kunoichi in the jaw knocking her flat onto the ground, stars swimming in her eyes. "I told you at the start I would prove you wrong and I meant that."

Kin tried to speak a rebuttal but her jaw felt like shattered glass and her lungs burned after having all the air she thought she owned forced violently out her lungs. She barely registered her opponent walking past her until she felt that now familiar iron grip grab her by the heel. She tried in vain to kick herself free, struggling with what little energy she could bring to bear but Sakura was having none of it and surged her remaining chakra through her like a living battery, empowering her weakened body.

"After the week I've had I will admit that I'm a bit cranky and you are just the one who has to deal with it so when you wake up, I hope you know that this isn't personal." She explained and to the shock of her classmates and the pride of her teammates she lifted the still struggling and now very frightened kunoichi off the ground like she was a child. "Well, it wasn't until you tried to chop off my hair anyway, now it's a little personal." She admitted unapologetically.

She'd had enough of the exams and people screwing with her and her team.

_**CHAAAAAA!**_

For a few precious and brief moments Kin understood what it was like to feel weightless, like a bird in flight she soared across the area barely able to register that fact that she'd been thrown away like yesterday's trash before eventually ran out of space to fly and she crashed heavily into the stone wall in front of her. The stone cracking ever so slightly at the point of impact while Kin herself fell unconscious the moment her face met the immovable surface, her limp body falling to the floor in a broken heap.

She didn't stand a chance.

"**Winner, Sakura Haruno!" **Hayate declared. Checking the still body of the thankfully just unconscious sound kunoichi and determining that there was no way for her to continue awarding Sakura the win. She would move onto the finals.

Sakura smiled with pride at her victory and quickly made her way back up the stairs where she found herself almost immediately being lifted off the ground by an excitable Naruto her face quickly flushing with embarrassment as all eyes turned to them at the over the top celebration.

"P-Put me down, you moron people are looking at us!" She hissed lightly slapping him across the head in an effort to make him let go but Kakashi and Satsuki could tell that the girl was secretly pleased to have her victory rewarded in such a way, even if she would never show or admit it out loud.

"Hahaha, you did great Sakura! Remind me never to touch your hair though." He teased finally setting her down much to her relief as fussed to fix her dress and calm herself down.

"You idiot… thanks." She admitted her previous glare morphing into a genuine smile as she bowed her head a bit in respect towards him. She would never have gotten as far as she had without him taking the time to get her on the right path and while Kakashi may have stepped up in recent months, Naruto had still built the foundations.

She would always be grateful for that.

"Not bad, you could have beat her up a bit more but I guess that'll do." Satsuki praised masking the depths of her respect with her usual aloofness. "I guess Naruto and I will have to look out for you in the finals then." She mentioned almost in passing but Sakura caught the meaning in her words.

Satsuki was acknowledging her as somewhat of an equal, not just a follower or a burden but at genuine competition.

"Guess I'll find out how far an Uchiha can fly sooner than I thought~" Sakura teased, lightly punching the heiress in the arm who smirked back challengingly. She was looking forward to seeing her go all out now.

"Good job Sakura, you've grown so much in such little time. You have a bright future ahead of you if you keep up this pace." Kakashi praised, happy that at least one of his students would make it to the finals on their first go, especially the one that had arguably been the weakest of the three at the start. "I'm proud of you."

Maybe he should have given this whole team thing a shot years ago.

Off to the side, the rest of the teams had their own thoughts about what they had just witnessed.

"Damn, I didn't know Sakura could do that… I wanna fight her now!" Kira grinned and stared across the way at the still chatting Team Seven, her blood pumping having witnessed one of the weakest of their graduating class having grown a fair bit stronger since the last time they'd all been gathered like this.

If _Sakura _was that strong then just how much more had the rest of her team gotten?

"You want to fight _everyone_." Hinata noted with some amusement but she did admit she was impressed by Sakura's performance as well, especially given that they didn't get to see everything the girl had to offer given the relative ease with which she won.

"Of course I do, can't get stronger without some good scraps." Kira smirked, not bothering to deny the accusation. "But there is one person, in particular, that I really want to get my hands on." She admitted turning her attention towards her primary target and at this Hinata couldn't help but roll her eyes knowing _exactly _who her teammate was referring to.

There was only one person Kira _ever _really wanted to fight with.

Shino remained quite too busy running an analysis on the fight to comment.

"It's good to see a young kunoichi taking her career seriously, I'm glad Kakashi hasn't been slacking in their training." Kurenai mused wondering just how well the pinkette would do had she been paired against one of her own students, perhaps they should have a group training session sometime in the future.

"Troublesome, Sakura's gotten pretty scary…" Shikari yawned as she slumped tiredly against the railing seemingly bored with this whole thing. "That means the rest of her team are probably monsters now." She was debating on just bowing out and saving herself the trouble of having to deal with this, especially since Ino seemed all fired up at the moment.

"Hmph, just because Forehead has turned into a gorilla doesn't make her stronger than us!" Ino scowled but inwardly she was happy for her old friend and resolved to take her out to celebrate when this was all said and done. "Shika, Choji you two better not let them show us up!"

"Right!" Choji nodded but the impact of his agreement was lessened somewhat by the fact he was currently stuffing his face with chips causing Ino to groan at the less than intimidating sight.

"Please kill me…" Shikari whined and from behind them, Asuma chuckled at his team.

He was eager to see how they would stack up, they had been training rather hard even despite all their bellyaching.

"That wasn't too bad, a little sloppy in the middle but pretty good for a rookie." Tenten mused looking towards her teammates to gauge their thoughts. "What do you think Neji?"

Her Hyuuga teammate shrugged. "Fate appeared to be on her side this day, how she won is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things." He answered callously. "However, I do not see her making it past the finals either with her current level of strength at best." He finished, crossing his arms while he returned to his spot against the wall leaving his female teammate to roll her eyes at the melodramatic answer.

"Yosh! Guy-sensei, her flames of youth burned brightly that match! I hope that I too may display such passion in my own bout!" Lee proclaimed and from beside him Guy smirked and nodded.

"Of course Lee, naturally as my rival Kakashi's team won't be pushovers so make sure you give it your all or expect at least one hundred laps around the village as punishment!" He said and Lee nodded in affirmative leaving Tenten to sigh at just how weird her team was before turning her attention back to the center of the arena where Hayate seemed prepared to call out the next combatants.

…

Hayate cleared his throat prompting a sudden hush fell over the area, who would be next?

"Would **Choji Akimichi and Sabaku no Temari** make their way down to the area." He called and waited for contestants to make their way down.

"Be careful Choji," Shikari warned keeping her eyes locked on the slowly descending blond making her way down the stairs, she got bad vibes from the Suna team and she didn't want her friend to get too beat up. "She seems pretty troublesome and we don't know how she fights yet so don't just go charging in."

"You can kick her ass!" Ino cheered taking a more optimistic approach, after all, they had been hard at work training for this moment and among them, Choji was the best suited to combat so he had to have this in the bag. "Show them the power of Team Ten!"

"I'll do my best." He promised and made his way down to meet his opponent taking his place across from her once he made it down.

_**\- In the Arena - **_

"You two remember the rules?" Hayate asked and seeing them both nod quickly jumped back. "Then you may begin!"

…

"Choji Akimichi… I've heard of your clan, the books say you guys specialize in body modification jutsu, size-changing and such." She spared him a glance and her expression went from eager to unimpressed. "I expected a little more if I'm being honest." She sighed pulling out the metal slab on her back with ease and holding it up against her side.

"Tell me... are all the members of your clan as fat as you are?" She asked bluntly and from the stands, nearly every leaf genin felt the hearts stop as the dreaded F-word was uttered without mercy. Team Ten especially seemed on edge as Choji paused in his chip munching, a tick forming just above his brow.

"Did you just call me fat?" He asked leveling the Suna-kunoichi with a glare that did nothing but amuse her, the indignation and anger in his words serving as little more than confirmation to her suspicions.

"Do you need me to say it slower for you?" She balanced on the balls of her feet and leveled him with a bored look. "How you've made it this far is beyond me."

Choji crushed the bag of chips in his hand and chakra burst from his growling form whipping around him in a frenzy in response to his anger.

"I AM NOT FAT I'M BIG BONED!" He roared and Temari was caught off guard as the pudgy boy surged forward with surprising speed for his size, his hands held up as if he was reaching out to throttle her which likely wasn't too far fetched by this point given her commentary. Acting quickly, she leapt into the air using her fan to vault herself up and allowing her opponent to barrel harmlessly past her prior position.

However, Choji wasn't so easy to misdirect anymore.

_**Partial Expansion Jutsu!**_

Spinning on his heel Choji's arms rapidly expanded outwards growing to nearly the same size and length of his torso, human-sized palms held out flat Termari's eyes widened as she was caught unprepared for the devastating dual palm strike that crashed into her descending form, just barely bringing up the flat side of her metal fan to absorb some of the impact as she was launched across the field.

She grit her teeth as she was sent skidding back along the stone floor thankfully having managed to right herself before she hit the ground. Perhaps she'd underestimated him, her initial plan had been to throw him by attacking an insecurity in the hopes of making him sloppy and creating an easy opening for herself but she hadn't expected him to still be clear-headed enough to not just throw his weight around carelessly.

She would have to take this seriously or she might actually get flattened.

_**Human Boulder!**_

Quickly refocusing on the fight she was greeted to the sight of a large rolling ball of fury charging towards her with the full intent of crushing her. Unwilling to become a stain on the floor anytime soon she quickly popped open her fan jumping immediately the second star before with a mighty heave she swung her weapon towards the incoming human wrecking ball facing the threat rather than going for the predictable dodge.

The spectators watched with shock as a massive gust of wind crashed head-on with the seemingly unstoppable meat tank, the two opposing forces grinding each other down with a small shockwave resulting from the collision. However, this temporary reprieve gave Termari the advantage and the opening she needed to quickly turn the battle back in her favor. Maintaining her momentum, she used the force of her first swing to carry her into a second much stronger attack this time flooding her weapon with a large chunk of her reserves.

_**Wind Style: Gale Force!**_

A second, _far _stronger gust of wind rippled violently towards Choji's still spiraling form before smashing into him with far greater force than the first, His technique may have offered him a measure of protection from the hit but the sheer intensity of her attack sent him spinning out of control rolling right past his target and into the wall a few feet behind her.

"Ughh…Ah!" Shrinking back to his original size he quickly shook off the cobwebs just in time to avoid being smacked in the head by her refolded fan as he rolled along the floor to get away from her, the sand blond now hunting him down with extream prejudice.

"Wonderful, the fatty is apparently a ballerina." She muttered while lashing out once more to try and club the evading Akimichi into submission while the boy in question did his best to avoid prevent the steel bat being swung his way from entering his skull. His previous indignation at her jibes towards his weight forgotten for the moment with more pressing concerns.

It would have been a rather comical sight if not for the vicious nature of her swings.

Seeing that she was getting nowhere trying to club the still fleeing Akimichi Temari swiftly shifted her efforts to something she knew would prove far more effective, opening her fan quickly after missing an overhead swing Choji was left no time to react as sudden concentrated gust of wind plowed into him and unlike before he did not have the benefit of the extra layers of fat to shield him.

"Gahhh!"

"Choji!" The shouts of Team Ten were drowned out the sound of the portly Akimichi slamming into the floor. However, Temari appeared far from finished.

Gripping her fan tightly in her hands she spun rapidly in place creating a localized vortex around her, the surrounding air churning violently as loose dust and debris were dragged into the forming whirlwind that picked up strength with each complete rotation.

Still dazed from her first attack Choji was in no state to even prepare himself as he was sucked into the violent gale forces and thrown around like a paper bag in a storm, his weight doing little to stop his growing momentum nor the sick feeling creeping into his stomach. The spectators could only watch as the boy became a blur reaching peak speeds before his opponent decided to finish things.

Allowing her momentum to carry her, she angled her fan up and with a shout sent the collected wind storm straight up launching her opponent up towards the ceiling, his limp body going into free fall before with a grunt she swung her fan downwards guiding the wind tunnel, and by extension the Akimichi boy, back down towards the earth.

Dust exploded from the impact but cleared within moments revealing a completely unconscious Choji.

"**Winner, Sabaku no Temari!"** Hayate called the match and without delay, a team of medic-nin quickly made their way over to the boy placing him on a stretcher and carting him out of the arena while Temari made her way back over to her team. She, of course, caught the angry looks the boy's teammates were sending her way but she paid them no mind. She had been far more merciful than she had to be, there were worse fates than just being thrown around by a bit of wind. Had he been faced with her sister…

She fought off a shudder at the idea and offered a small prayer in advance for whoever had the misfortune of that match up.

…

"Jeez…" Asuma rubbed his neck in disappointment as he watched his student get carted off. He was perfectly content with his student's performance but it stung at his pride to see one of his own lose even with the additional training they'd undergone. That Sabaku girl was no joke to be able to hold Choji off with wind manipulation alone even if Choji was limited by the arena.

"Damn it!" Ino growled in a mixture of irritation and worry, her blue orb narrowing on the team from sand and in partially her fellow blond that had just made it up on her list. She was going down!

"This is too troublesome…" Shikari sighed but it was clear that she wasn't pleased with the results either by the slight frown marring her features. She'd been able to tell that Choji wasn't seriously injured but she still didn't enjoy seeing him thrown around like some kind of children's' toy.

…

Hayate appeared center stage once again prompting another round of silence to fall over the competitors as they all awaited the next match.

"Would **Kira Inuzuka and Zaku Abumi **make their way down to the arena!" He called and immediately all eyes fell onto the two contestants in question.

"Oi Akamaru looks like we're up!" Kira grinned and launched herself off the platform with a cheeky grin not needing any encouragement or reassurances from her team to practically throw herself down into the area. "Not who we wanted though… but I guess it's beats sitting around doing nothing." She shrugged.

"Arf!"

"Right! We'll kick his ass later!" She nodded stepping up to the center where her opponent was waiting having similarly launched himself down from the balcony mirroring her own flashy entrance. He had apparently also overheard her comments and appeared none too pleased with being considered some kind of warm-up.

"I can hear you ya know!" Zaku growled glaring at the Inuzuka heiress with annoyance at being brushed off so casually.

"Okay, and?" Kira sent him a blank look in return, not really seeing why she should care about offending him. "You aren't getting past us anyway so it's not like it matters." She said rolling her neck while Akamaru shifted from his spot between her chest to the top of her head in preparation.

"You little bitch..." Zaki hissed. "We'll see how long you can keep up that fucking attitude of yours while I'm kicking your ass!"

"Mhm, sure you will." She yawned dismissing him with a bored wave of her hand not at all intimidated by his shouting or aggression. "You sound like your other teammate, ya know? The same one lost in like five minutes by getting hurled into a wall."

"Why you!…"

"Alright, that's enough talking." Hayate cut in, honestly, this generation talked far too much for his liking. What happened to just attacking your enemies' sight? "On my mark… begin!" He shouted signaling the start of the third match.

Zaku in his anger wasted no time in bringing up both his palms revealing two distinct openings in the center of his palms, they looked artificial almost as if someone had inserted tubes through his hands and into his arms.

"Eat this!" He shouted and with a single surge of chakra two highly pressurized blasts of wind shot forth like a shotgun blast ripping through anything in their path towards a surprised Kira who was not expecting such an unorthodox or immediate attack from her opponent.

However, just because she wasn't expecting it, didn't mean she couldn't react to it.

Grinning, Kira surged into motion just before the pressurized winds could slam into her, dodging out the way and allowing the shot to pass harmlessly by. The only thing the surprise attack had managed to do was blow her hood off revealing her shaggy hair and growling partner who were now prepared to retaliate.

Landing off to the side in a low crouch, she quickly fell into her stance for the Inzuka clan's "_**Four Legs Technique**_" faint wisps of chakra seeping from her skin as the technique took hold. Already strong eyesight grew clearer, dull nails sharpened into fierce claws, and senses heightened to their maximum as she suddenly shot forward in a brown and black blur crossing the distance between her and her prey in seconds leaving him no time to react.

Having not expected her to dodge Zaku wasn't prepared for the feral girl's response and his sloppy defense proved it to everyone.

Hit and run was the name of Kira's game and she used it with terrifying effectiveness. She was among the fastest in her class and she had only gotten faster with further training from her mother and sister. The "Four Legs Technique" only built upon her greatest strengths granting her even greater speed and accuracy in movement while her natural strength allowed her to score devastating blows.

With practiced ease she blitzed around her opponent wildly with no real pattern or rhythm just striking when an opening presented itself. With each run jagged claw-shaped gashes were carved into his clothing as she stripped him of any protection exposing weak easily punctured flesh for her to strike at. Of course, he tried to defend himself from the rapid flurry of blows firing multiple blasts of compressed air whenever she drew near but her speed far outmatched his attack's ability to close distance and soon enough she had drawn first blood.

Then second, then third… until Zaku was covered in cuts that were just deep enough to debilitate, his movements growing sluggish and pained as he tried to ignore the stinging sensation wreaking havoc on his body.

Sliding to a stop, Kira allowed him a moment's reprieve. Not out of kindness but just to see if he would at least pull out something that might impress her before she went for his throat, metaphorically speaking.

"Wow, you really didn't put up much of a fight did ya?" She taunted standing back up to her full height allowing her eyes to roam over her handiwork with approval. "Akamaru didn't even have to join in." She mused reaching up to scratch the pup behind the ears the pup panting happily at the sudden attention.

"Shut up!" Zaku roared and pulling all the remaining chakra he could spare. He launched his strongest attack, one that would put this fucking mutt in her place!

_**Extreme Decapitating Airwaves!**_

A towering wall of wind and sound rushed forward as Zaku pushed himself to his breaking point, the arena itself actually physically rumbling as the mixture of pressurized wind and high-frequency sound raced towards the stunned Inuzuka, the area of effect attack smashing into her position and everything around her like a tidal wave causing a massive explosion of dust and debris that blocked all view of the feral heiress.

…

"Haa...haa...hahaha...eat shit tree-hugger!" Zaku shouted triumphantly fighting past his exhaustion to grab his deserved glory by the horns, nothing could have escaped that! "I told you! I said I would kick your as-"

Zaku's celebration as cut off prematurely as a drill-like whirlwind shot suddenly through the dust carving a deep furrow through the ground as it rocketed forwards towards an immobilized Zaku, his eyes growing wide as he tried desperately to move out of the way but the recoil of his attack had drained his reserves and weakened his body far too much. He could only watch as the imposing tornado carved its way towards him.

He was a sitting duck.

Just before the drill could rip the sound-genin to shreds Kira slowed her rotation, allowing herself to keep just enough momentum to deliver a devastating right hook to her gassed out opponent. The crunch of bone-cracking against her knuckles telling her all she needed to know as he was sent flying back in a heap, his eyes rolling into his head as the culmination of blood loss, chakra exhaustion, and now physical trauma caught up with him.

"**Winner, Kira Inuzuka!"** Hayate announced holding an arm up towards the smirking yet slightly wobbly heiress. "There will be a ten-minute intermission while we repair the damage to the arena so you all may take this time to prepare yourselves." He proclaimed before stepping off the field while a team of chunin set to work using earth ninjutsu to fix the now worn battlefield.

_**\- In the Stands -**_

"You did very well Kira, but we still have to work on that ego of yours." Kurenai praised but as their instructor, it was also her job to point out mistakes. "You could have lost that match if you hadn't pulled out that final attack in time, don't give your opponents the opportunity to counter-attack if you don't have to." She lectured still proud of her student but cognizant of her flaws.

"I know I know, I'm sorry sensei…" Kira bowed her head in remorse knowing that she had gotten a tad overconfident but smiled when she felt her sensei rub her hair affectionately regardless, a playful sigh escaping her lips as she tousled the shaggy mess.

"You are such a troublemaker, your mother will be proud of you I'm sure." She joked and Kira grinned happily knowing that was probably true, she and her mother were a lot alike in that regard.

"You still fight like an animal, but at least you won so I suppose I can't criticize you too much. Good job." Hinata teased, lightly embracing her teammate/rival who happily returned the gesture with a boisterous laugh.

"You're just jealous I'm so good!" She barked and the Hyuuga heiress scoffed mockingly.

"As if, you have all the grace of a bull in a china shop." She dismissed and the two glared playfully at one another before erupting in a new round of laughter. Everything they said was in good fun and despite appearances, the pair had grown far closer in the past few months both as rivals and as friends.

That didn't mean they weren't still going to pick on one another from time to time.

"Congratulations Kira-san." Shino nodded his head towards his rowdy teammate in approval. "You finished your opponent quickly and without showing off too much, well done."

Kira gave the Aburame a deadpan stare at his heartfelt but monotone praise. "Shino, stop being so formal damn it and just join the hug like a normal person." She ordered pulling the boy against his will into the now three way embrace much to the surrounding team's amusement as he struggled to remove himself from the situation.

The Aburame clan was _not_ into hugs.

…

"Hn, so Choji's out which is not surprising and the mutt is slightly more capable than I gave her credit for… interesting." Satsuki mused keeping track of her potential opponents. "Still, there are only a few real threats here." Her gaze drifted around the room lingering every so often on those she considered to be a challenge.

The team from Suna was without question a threat and that weirdo from earlier seemed rather relaxed which hinted that nothing they'd seen so far had them on edge.

"Everyone seems to have grown a lot stronger though, I don't think we can really say for sure who will move on and who won't." Sakura added throwing her two cents in. "There are still plenty of matches to go and a lot for us to see, it wouldn't do to get overconfident." She advised not wanting to see either of her teammates lose because they didn't approach their own fights with caution.

"She has a point." Naruto nodded rubbing his chin in thought while he replayed the two matches in his mind. "Despite his loss, Choji actually was fighting way better than he did a few months ago and Kira's speed has increased greatly as well. I don't think it's a stretch to assume all of our class have learned some new tricks." He acknowledged.

"Nothing we can't handle though." She grunted.

"Not even with a handicap…" He countered reminding her that she would be going into her fight at a disadvantage. "Remember, you don't have the luxury of going all out like you normally do." He pointed out and she scowled at the unwanted reminder of her current condition, her hand unconsciously moving to the rough patch of skin around her neck.

"I'll be fine, just worry about your own match and leave me to worry about mine." She huffed prompting the rest of her team to sigh in exasperation at the raven-haired girl's stubbornness but they supposed that was just what was to be expected at this point.

It could be worse.

…

"This bores me."

Temari flinched at the dull tone of her younger sister's voice, her words grating like the roughest sandpaper upon her ears but that was out of fear more than anything else. It was not often Risa spoke but when she did it was only ever to express dissatisfaction or to etch her final words into her victim's frantic minds.

Often the two scenarios occurred in short succession leading to a general discomfort at the sound of her voice.

"There is no blood, no one has proven anything of value… pathetic." Teal eyes turned their gaze to those that had won, watching them celebrate with barely restrained contempt that was only hidden by a mask of indifference. "Even you…"

Temari stiffened as cold eyes bored into her soul, watching her like a vulture eyeing a freshly abandoned carcass.

"There will be a time for that later." She spoke quietly keeping her features schooled to avoid drawing attention even as her instincts screamed at her to flee from the predator lying in wait at her side. "It is as father said when the moment is right…"

"The dying leaves will float along rivers of blood…" Risa inhaled deeply, ringed eyes shutting for a few brief moments before a soft exhale passed her lips. "The virtue of patience is not one I care for but I will have to find other ways to sate my desires in the meantime."

The smiling face of a certain whiskered blond appeared in her mind's eye and her lips twitched ever so slightly upwards as she shaped that cheerful visage into one of horror and palpable agony, a stark but maddened laughter piercing the silence of her thoughts while shivers of growing blood lust ran down her spine. She could hardly contain herself if only there was something to make the waiting more bearable...

"Thank you for your patience, would** Sabaku no Risa and Rock Lee** make their way down to the arena to begin the fourth match!"

_Ask and you shall receive it seems._

* * *

_**AN. Chapter Complete**_

_**Again, sorry that this is a short chapter even given the length of time since the last update but since school has started up again I don't have a lot of free time and trying to balance writing with my other hobbies as well as work makes it very difficult to make extra long chapters. Anyway, let's get into the notes for this chapter!**_

_**So obviously I've changed all of the matches barring the last one in this chapter which will kick us off for the next chapter and I've also changed the winners meaning the finals are inherently going to play out differently. So far we have Sakura, Temari, and Kira all confirmed as finalists and the rest will be revealed as we go along. **_

_**Sakura won due to greater physical strength, being more familiar with genjutsu thanks to Satsuki and Kin's overconfidence allowing her to pull out an easy win without revealing anything we haven't seen.**_

_**Choji lost primarily because in my mind his fighting style is just not suited for confined spaces and while I know the arena is quite large when fighting someone like Temari who skill set works a bit better in that setting I just saw her winning. Also, she is more aggressive than Choji in attacking which doesn't help his case since he's a very passive fighter early on.**_

_**Kira won despite having a weakness to sound through her training, I thought it odd that a clan with heightened senses would have no way to counter attacks/effects that would attack such a glaring weakness. The smaller blasts were not enough to derail her and using her clan technique she managed to deafen the sound enough to plow through it without too many side effects other than being a bit unsteady at the end.**_

_**I was originally going to do a lot more canon fights but I decided to change them for story reasons or personal reasons, an example being not having Sakura fight Ino since the dynamic between the two is different and it doesn't really hold the same symbolic meanings that it has in the show.**_

_**I did my best with the fights given that I do not like nor am I good at writing fight scenes but I think they came out decently, I did look around for examples to draw from and I was a bit surprised to see how many writers just kind of opt-out of depicting any of the fights excluding Naruto's or Gaara's. So while it may not be the best I hope at least some of you appreciate the attempt but if not I can't blame you.**_

_**Anyway since this chapter was pretty self-explanatory the last and most important topic I'll touch on today is the Poll for Tayuya vs. Samui:**_

_**To start off, I am not revealing the results right now BUT I will reveal them when the next chapter goes up as that will mark the end of the voting period! Whoever is in the lead when the chapter goes up is the winner even if it's just by one vote. I was originally not going to mention this but I thought people might see it as unfair if I never mention when the voting is going to end and as such last minute voters might feel excluded. **_

_**I will say this now for all the people who have/will ask this. No, I will not add both even if they are tied or very close, I've explained multiple times why I won't do this but I still get this question. If when I post they are tied I will simply push the results back until the following chapter. **_

_**No hints will be given as to who is winning and no amount of lists or reasoning as to why one character is better or worse than another will change anything, the numbers will decide. That isn't to say I don't like seeing/reading opinions but other than announcing the winner I don't really have any say in what happens.**_

_**Anyway I hope you enjoyed even if the chapter is shorter than what I like to do for this fic, all my stories are going to be receiving shorter chapters for the time being but I still aim to meet my 7K word minimum for this one. **_

_**Take care and I'll see you all next time! Now excuse me while I pass out to prepare for another shift as always feel free to PM your thoughts if you want a response to a certain question or concern!**_


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but with that said I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway!**

**Hey! Welcome back to yet another chapter, specifically chapter 30! As I've mentioned the chapters are going to be shorter given that I'm still in school and working so that's just how it is. I hope you all have been well since the last time and if not I hope things get better! I know this took a while primarily just having a lot to do with both my actual life ontop of the other stories that I'm working on. I'm actually thinking of doing another pure Naruto story, something with bloodline and a different take on the character but that's still a work in progress and I have other stories to attend to first.**

**Anywho, as always I hope you enjoy the chapter and as usual, I'll see you all at the bottom in the author's notes. Do remember the poll ends today so make sure to read the bottom AN to find out who won the vote, enjoy!**

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"Would **Sabaku no Risa and Rock Lee** make their way down to the arena."

Hayate's voice echoed throughout the room like the low rumbling of thunder, a sound that stirred discomfort in the stomachs of those with enough sense to understand the danger. The air shifted subtly and a gentle waft of bloodlust spiked violently for just a moment, just long enough to set hairs on end as the two combatants made their way down opposite flights of stairs to meet each other in the center of the arena.

Lee gave a bright smile as he stopped mere feet in front of his to be opponent, expressive black eyes staring undaunted into her dull teal orbs almost as if he was totally oblivious to the dangers that resided behind her glare. Perhaps he was, or perhaps he believed himself capable of handling whatever she could throw at him.

He would have a chance to prove just which camp he resided in soon enough.

"Yosh, I can hardly contain my excitement for this bout!" He pumped a fist in excitement as he stretched out his legs in preparation. "I can only hope you are feeling that same rush Risa-san!" He exclaimed, harshly slapping his cheeks in a manner that left him slightly red but clearly pumped to show off the fruits of his labor.

Risa for her part gave no verbal response to his inquiry, instead merely offering a low grunt of acknowledgment that she had indeed heard him and crossing her arms in a bored manner. Those that were familiar with her tendencies, however, could see a growing irritation in her gaze… a twitch reminiscent of substance withdrawal chewing its way to the surface.

Her impatience was growing as was her displeasure...

Lee's hand shot up reflexively in a textbook defined toss, launching a single shuriken towards his opponent, the silver throwing star bouncing off what appeared to be a cork that had begun speeding towards him before the match even started. Risa had not moved but her gourd was now unsealed marking her as the clear and obvious aggressor causing him to frown with disapproval.

"That was rather unyouthful of you Risa-san." Lee frowned quickly falling into his stance as the Suna-kunoichi stared him down. "Attacking before the proctor gave the word."

"There is no reason to delay the inevitable." She cocked her head to the side as if gesturing in curiosity but still maintained that mask of emotionlessness that seemed to define her. "What is one more second to a dying man in the end?"

Hayate paused ever so briefly in his incoming admonishment getting a taste for the almost suffocating amount of hostility in the air, a sensation of dread gripping him before vanishing almost as quickly as it came but regardless of his feelings he had a job to do. He did not even have it within him to chide the girl for attacking without his say so, the unsettling aura surrounding her outmatching anything he'd felt save for one brief night many years ago.

Her words sent a discomforting chill throughout the rest of the arena as well, even her own team seemed slightly distraught by her morbid inquiry but hid it better than most. From his spot against the railing, Naruto frowned as he gave the pair his undivided attention but his focus laid almost exclusively with the petite redhead. There was so much about her that he didn't understand yet still something unexplainable drew his attention towards her…

_Who really was she?_

"Begin!"

…

Lee's gaze hardened ever so slightly at the none too subtle threat, for as aloof as he might be his senses were on high alert in her presence. Kicking into action he decided to forgo any further conversation and attack head-on! Shooting forward he lashed out with a flurry of rapid punches hoping to capitalize on her relaxed stance and numerous openings to deliver a quick finish.

However, it appeared her disinterest in defense did not stem from a lack of ability but rather a lack of _need_ to physically defend herself.

Bandaged fists slammed into what felt like reinforced concrete as a wall of hardened sand burst forth from her gourd and wrapped around the unmoving kunoichi, protecting her from the aggressive assault before retaliating with a quick swipe that forced the green-clad genin to retreat backing away from the redhead.

"Sand?" Lee stared curiously at the slowly swaying tendrils of finely ground earth swished hypnotically around his opponent. "I see… your name is far more fitting than I realized!" He nodded to himself but to the surprise of the spectators he didn't appear bothered or discouraged by this revelation, instead, he merely readied himself to attack again.

Grabbing a handful full of shuriken, he quickly launched a few of the steel stars towards the girl before blitzing her. Predictably, his weapons were caught and seemingly devoured by the grinding sand particles but he'd had expected that much so quickly pivoting to the side he lashed out with a kick testing the response time of her defenses at different angles. No matter where the attack came from flowing sand raced to meet it, protecting her with a single-minded determination.

Risa all the while stood motionless, unconcerned by his attempts while she watched with disinterest.

…

Sakura frowned as she watched as Lee was forced back away once again fleeing the seeking tendrils of sand that seemed determined to hunt him down. The freshly repaired arena was once again being battered and buffeted by the growing waves of sand smashing into it in an attempt to turn the boy into a paste.

"Why doesn't he attack from a distance? There is no way he's getting past that sand with just his fists." She wondered aloud trying to understand Lee's angle here. True enough, Lee had once again managed to evade the reaching sands and was launching yet another series of failed attacks on Risa herself who appeared more annoyed than challenged, as if he was merely a rather persistent fly buzzing around her than any real threat.

"Maybe he doesn't have any?" Naruto guessed, it seemed to him that Lee preferred taijutsu over anything else so perhaps he just didn't have anything else to fall back on. Risa's defense was clearly something to be feared judging by the fact that Lee had yet to land a single blow despite his best efforts. Unless he had an ace hidden up his sleeve he wasn't sure what Lee could really do to make it past that sand of hers.

"You are half right but that isn't all there is to it." Kakashi interrupted looking up from his book towards the arena below. "There is another reason that he is falling back on the same tactic over and over again, isn't that right Guy?" He commented his gaze shifting to the jounin in question who paid the silver-haired jounin no mind his attention turned entirely towards the battle below.

"Are you keeping tabs on my genin, Kakashi?" Guy finally responded after a few moments of silence but he didn't seem upset in the slightest by the prospect, after all it wasn't like he'd kept it a big secret. "But you are right, to answer your question Sakura-san, you have to understand one simple truth about my pupil." He focused his gaze back to his student, a mixture of pride and subtle worry in his eyes.

"Lee is unable to mold his chakra in the way necessary to use ninjutsu or genjutsu, they are simply beyond his ability to ever perform." He revealed bluntly drawing looks of disbelief from those who heard his words. A ninja that couldn't use any form of ninjutsu? Was that even possible? How had he passed through the academy?

"I know what you must be thinking but Lee has far too much spirit to allow such a handicap to stand in the way of his dreams. He wishes to be the greatest through nothing but his own skill in hand to hand combat and to show the world that through enough hard work no handicap is too large to be overcome. It is for these reasons that he must now find his own way past this obstacle." Guy explained before falling silent as all eyes turned back towards the match in question, suddenly many were seeing the bowl-cut teen in a new light.

…

"I am growing tired of this." Risa growled finally making a move, her hand suddenly stretched out as if to grab him and her sand mirrored her gesture, five thin, flowing streams shooting forward at twice the speed they had before catching the leaf-genin off guard as he was suddenly seized by the ankle. With barely a flick of her wrist, the sand gripping him violently whipped the trapped genin through the air like a ragdoll before launching him across the field and into the nearest wall with a loud crack that had onlookers wincing in sympathy.

Despite the pain running through him, Lee had no choice but to quickly roll to the side as yet another shower of sand smashed into his previous position easily destroying the concrete tiles below and painting a clear picture of what would happen to him should he be caught again.

Thinking on his feet, he swiftly rolled once again before kicking forward with even greater speed than before still easily evading the grasping tendrils of sand that reached out towards him. Drawing a kunai into his hand he tried to hack and slash his way through her defense hoping that perhaps tempered metal might succeed where flesh and bone failed and to his credit the attempt did prove slightly more successful than his first. The blade managed to cut through the thinner layers surrounding his opponent but still he was forced to flee as he lacked the raw power needed to fully pierce her defenses.

At this point all Risa really had to do was out last him or wait for him to slip up. The chance of which grew more and more likely with each failed attempt as she became more accustomed to his newfound speed and attack patterns. If he didn't do something soon then this match was as good as over.

"Lee!"

From the stands, Guy shouted to his student his fist held out towards the green-clad youth while a fire burned in his eyes. "Take them off!" He shouted, his words drawing looks of curiosity from the crowd as they wondered what the loud jounin was talking about.

Lee paused and even herself Risa halted her assault, her arms crossing once more while her sand returned to her side. She may have hated being interrupted but she despised an unsatisfying end… if he had any more tricks to reveal she would let him bring them forth if only to satiate her cravings.

"But Guy-sensei, you said-" Lee appeared uncertain.

"I'll allow it!" Guy interrupted sending his pupil a strong thumbs up a silent conversation being conveyed between teacher and student in the instant their eyes met. "Show them the strength of your youth!"

Lee hesitated for only a brief moment before nodding and leaping away from his opponent to land gracefully on the large statue that hovered over the arena. All the while Risa watched with mild interest, her sand still twitching and writhing around her but making no move to attack or take advantage of the opening.

Lee quickly crouched down and without wasting a moment pulled down the bright orange leg warmers hugging his calf revealing long black weights strapped to each of his legs.

**~Up in the Stands~**

"He's been wearing weights the entire time?" Naruto hummed in contemplation at the implications of that. "To think he was still pretty fast even with those slowing him down." It must have taken Lee years of work to maintain such flexibility and agility even when weighed down so heavily, even when they first met he hadn't even gotten the slightest indication that Lee was being hindered in any way.

_How strong was he?_

Satsuki frowned as she watched the green-clad genin set to work removing the straps that keep the weights secured to his legs. She, of course, knew about using weights for training but she hadn't put much stock in the practice, how much would removing a couple of weights do for someone so clearly outclassed?

It appeared Sakura would be the voice of her concerns.

"There is no way a couple of weights are going to make that much of a difference." Sakura shot Lee a look of confusion and pity. Confusion at his choice to continue this fight and pity at the fact that she couldn't see any way of him getting out of this situation even with a small increase to his speed.

"Hmph, just wait!" Guy didn't seem bothered by their skepticism if anything he seemed almost emboldened by it. "Lee, show them all!"

**~Back in the Arena~**

"Hai, watch me Guy-sensei!" Lee shouted his resolve and tossed his weights to the ground…

Risa's eyes widened in shock, as did the rest of the spectators when the seemingly innocuous weights hit the ground and seemed to shake the entire arena to its foundation the pair of metal bands creating actual_ impact craters_ where they landed while kicking up large amounts of dust and debris into the air while also concealing the now liberated youth from view.

There was no time to process the sheer ridiculousness of how much weight the green-clad genin had been carrying as there was a brief explosion of sand to her right, the walls that kept her safe suddenly erupting in a violent spray of ground-up earth as _something_ slammed into them with such force that it actually punched a hole her protective barrier.

Her head swiveled as yet another burst of sputtering sand sprayed out from behind her, then another to her left, then above, then below… It was relentless. She tried to pull the crumbling pieces back to her, to rebuild her now chipping defenses but she wasn't fast enough and it was now her turn on the back foot as the blurring mirage of the mini green beast plowed through her every attempt.

"Be still!" She growled, finally expressing the first real hints of an emotion that wasn't boredom but rather genuine irritation. Hurriedly calling upon all the sand she could pull in a brief moment of respite she commanded the sand into a tight ring, swirling it around her as a quick and dirty deterrent likely hoping to scare him off and regain her lost control.

However Lee was on a roll and he wouldn't back down so easily.

Stopping on a dime Lee swiftly rocketed forward, now emboldened by his newfound agility he was on the attack and in a move Risa was unprepared for slid underneath the swirling ring of sand she had summoned and landed a devastating rising kick to her unprotected jaw, scoring his first actual blow of the match and unknown to anyone outside of the team from Suna, the first real hit Risa had ever received in her entire life.

But Lee was not finished.

Leaping after her now sky-bound form with enough force to crack the ground below him he nearly vanished, suddenly materializing within now open guard landing another solid kick to her unprotected form, then another, then another. In defiance of gravity, the bowl-cut teen kicked the Suna-kunoichi further and further into the air. Tendrils of white bandages quickly loosened from Lee's arms that began wrapping around the airborne redhead as he shifted himself behind her, the sticky gauze constricting around her beaten form like snakes as he nearly mummified the girl before with a shout of victory he began to spin violently. A buffeting whirlwind suddenly encasing the duo and a subtle hint of chakra coating Lee as they careened headfirst towards the ground.

_**PRIMARY LOTUS!**_

The arena rumbled violently in the wake of another dust explosion. The spectators watched with bated breath as neither Lee nor Risa could be seen through the smoke leaving the outcome of the devastating attack from view. Suddenly Lee burst out from the now settling cloud of debris, his green bodysuit scuffed in place and those with eagle eyes noticed he appeared to be limping somewhat but he was still strong enough to stand and fight.

Risa on the other hand…

As the dust cleared the results of Lee's efforts were revealed. Risa's body lay face up in a large crater, her eyes left wide and unblinking while she rested motionless within the upturned concrete creating an eerie sight for all who looked upon her. Still, there was something… off about the body that laid within. Risa's skin began to crack, at first mere hairline fractures along the surface but those quickly grew into jagged pieces that chipped and flaked away over time. Lee and the gathered spectators could only watch with a mixture of shock and confusion as the "Risa" within the crater began to crumble away, her pale skin turning brown and grainy revealing her to be nothing more than a clone made of the same sand she commanded.

All the while behind the bewildered genin the leftover sand began to rise up, a single enraged teal orb peeking out from underneath the curtain of flowing grains while pale hands reached out from within.

Lee barely noticed in time to avoid being impaled by a single sharpened tendril that shot forward from the now fully reformed Sabaku's arm, the jagged sand cutting a slight gash in his side but compared to the alternative he counted himself lucky, had her attack hit home…

He didn't allow himself to lament that. Instead, he quickly created more distance between the two and once again a surge of chakra burst off of him revitalizing him slightly as they were locked in a brief but somehow far more intense stare down than before. Where there was once a passive loathing in her gaze there was now a growing restlessness, a madness that was not present before but was slowly breaking its way towards the surface…

"I was wrong about you…." Risa once more stood at her full height, her skin fully reformed and flawless while her sand swayed almost hypnotically by her side. "I thought you would prove to be nothing more than a waste of my time…"

A smirk crawled its way onto her face and a shiver of fear ran its way down his spine. There was something wrong with that smile, it was unnatural. A twisted amalgamation of joy, hatred, rage, and something far more primal clashed and fought for dominance within her expression unconsciously forcing him back as she began to raise her arms in preparation for the next stage of their fight.

"Now though I see I was wrong, Mother and I…We are going to enjoy grinding you into dust!"

The sand by her hip shot forward with a speed that made her past attempts seem like child's play, there was to be no more playing around and the swelling rush of sand fanned out into a great tidal wave that held nothing back in its attempt to smother the fleeing genin under it's crushing weight.

With no other choice to dodge, Lee was forced to jump over the incoming tsunami of deadly sand but clearly Risa had expected such a reaction. As Lee sailed overhead his eyes widened as the rushing tide suddenly stopped just below him, the churning mass instantly congealing into one large well of earth that covered the ground below.

"_**Desert Blossom!" **_The mass welled and ruptured, exploding upwards into a beautiful display of jagged thorns and pikes all aimed directly at him. Risa spared no expense in blocking off all means of escape, with countless blades of piercing earth surrounding the boy while further below the base of the explosion swelled up as if to entomb him should all else fail. It was a death trap with no escape.

Lee couldn't accept that.

_Forgive me, Guy-sensei but to honor my ninja way, to protect what I hold dear… I must go to my limits!_

As the sand drew in Lee appeared to give in, closing his eyes in spite of the oncoming assurance of death. Spectators from all sides watched with dread creeping into their hearts as the space between his body and the rushing sand grew more narrow until the boy was mere moments away from being swallowed whole.

_**GATE OF LIFE, OPEN! GATE OF PAIN, OPEN! **_

Onlookers watched in shock as Lee suddenly seemed to vanish, simply disappearing in a sudden and almost overwhelming wave of chakra that weighed heavily on everyone watching. Genin and jounin alike felt the impact of what Lee had just done even if only those with greater experience truly understood the significance.

"Guy… you didn't really teach that to a child?" Kakashi turned to his rival, his headband pulled up to real a rapidly shifting sharingan eye following the action that was by this point nearly impossible to track with the naked eye alone. "That is irresponsible." He chided knowing better than most the drawbacks of the opening that many gates, especially for such a young body.

Guy said nothing in defense for a moment, instead his focus was entirely dedicated onto the arena, on his pupil...

"I see myself in Lee, Kakashi… What I teach my students is my own responsibility to bear."

Kakashi said nothing in response instead falling in line and following the rest of the crowd and once more turning his attention to the fight below. Lee had reappeared and by this stage was nearly unrecognizable… his skin was now a dull reddish-brown and surged with a thick layer of angrily swirling chakra that covered him in a glowing aura that passively billowed off of his crouched form. The pupils of his eyes were no longer visible instead taking the form of blank white orbs narrowed in either anger or determination.

This was Konoha's second Green Beast.

…

"_**HAAAAH!"**_

The arena echoed with the sound of his warcry as the shockwave of his moments rippled through the air shattering the ground as he barreled forward. This would have to be the end, there was no walking back from this! His body burned and his bones groaned as small hairline fractures began to spread with every step he took, every movement felt like liquid fire coursing through him…

It was torture unlike anything he'd ever felt before but he would endure it… he had to!

Once again, Risa could mount no viable defense against this new threat and she was sent rocketing away, her sand simply unable to keep up as a bandaged fist drove itself into her cheek with earth-shattering force easily cracking her second line of defense in a single blow. Her limp form bounced off the floor before being launched into the air as Lee appeared beside her with his foot raised in a brutal kick to her chin. Over and over again she was thrown from one end of the arena to the next without even a moment to process it, direction became meaningless in the wake of pain and the drag of gravity fighting to retake ownership of her body.

She felt fear in those moments, in each strike that sent her slowly splintering armor into the wind she felt an emotion that she had spent the latter half of her life keeping buried under her hate and rage. As she caught glimpses of blank white eyes she knew what it was like to be weak again, afraid…

_And her blood boiled within her veins because of it._

The arena was in tatters but that didn't matter to Lee, nothing mattered except piercing that final layer of armor!

Once more Risa found herself bound to him, a single winding bandage connecting her rag dolling body to him before, like a bungee cord, she was whipped back in his direction and a final flash of light and two points of searing pain erupted in her mind her form lurching as she was sent careening back down to earth.

_**REVERSE LOTUS!**_

A devastating explosion of wind, dust, and debris rocked the now busted arena that dwarfed anything that had come before and forced the spectators above to turn away lest they end up blinded by the incoming dust storm. An anxious silence settled over the arena for what felt like hours but in reality, was only a few short moments as the cloud of dust slowly cleared away revealing what had become of the two fighters…

Lee was down. His limbs were bent at awkward angles and his once pristine white bandages were now spattered with blood that painted parts of his jumpsuit and ugly shade of brown where the pooling life liquid was soaking into his clothes. He was only just barely conscious and even still the agonizing pain of the maneuver was evident upon his face, even the simple act of breathing appeared to cause extreme pain…

Risa was laid out in a similar manner though a small platform of sand had just managed to catch her and now housed her battered body. The sounds of labored breathing emanated from her lips in a low rattle while chips of broken sand armor fell freely from her skin… but this time _real_, flesh and blood awaited underneath confirming this was no clone. She had taken the attack with no tricks, no gimmicks, and now…

_Well safe to say, she was more than a bit pissed off._

"No way, she just won't go down…" Naruto and the rest of the onlookers watched with disbelief as slowly and shakily the remaining sand around her body began to gather into the air with a single, unsteady twitch of its master's fingers, the rising sand beginning to swirl angrily in the air in response to its mistress's own raging emotions. Slowly the shape of single earthen-colored lance began to form above the crumpled up boy, its looming form poised to drive itself right through Lee's heart all the while a hacking, maddened laughter began to crawl its way out of her throat.

Risa grinned wildly as she carefully angled the weapon of her victory and in her ears she could hear Mother's screams of delight and pride egging her on to add yet another soul to her expanding collection! Normally, she didn't care much for her victims, barely able to recall a single face at the best of times… but this one...

This was far more personal now, and she was going to remember this for a _long_ time...

"_Die!"/"Enough!"_

Her lance shattered, mere inches from piercing the boy's chest the instrument of her will simply ceased to be… the blood-soaked grains of her weapon dispersing in a single blast of pressurized air and an almost deafening explosion of force.

Guy stood protectively between his student and the now enraged kunoichi. Hard black eyes glaring unflinchingly into deranged teal while between them the scattered sand kicked and trashed in a rage but Guy stood firm and to those with enough knowledge of the man could see that he was only one wrong word away from taking the girls head off.

"Winner by interference, _**Sabaku no Risa!**_" Hayate quickly called the match knowing that if he didn't an international incident might just erupt if things continued any further. "Medics if you would?" He called hurriedly summoning a group of medic-nin who carefully began work transferring the barely intact genin onto a stretcher. All the while Risa and Guy continued their staredown, even as the young kunoichi began to rise to her feet, her armor smoothing out once more but her sand still vibrating angrily in the air.

"The match is over, return to the stands." Hayate ordered stepping in line beside Guy in hope of discouraging any further fighting.

Risa growled and for a moment there was a lingering fear that she might still attack regardless… but eventually, her sand returned to her side, repairing the remains of her defenses before filtering back into her gourd. The bloodlust radiating off her was almost palpable but she reluctantly conceded and slowly made her way back up to the now sheet white members of her team, a deep scowl etched onto her delicate features that left every soul near her on edge.

_She was not pleased in the slightest._

…

An uneasy silence sat over the competitors as the stage was once again undergoing repairs. No one was really sure what to say… what could they say? The fight was by far the most impressive but the outcome left a sour note over the whole thing, Team Guy by far seemed the most rattled by it. Guy hadn't said a word since Lee had been escorted out and the two remaining members of his squad looked torn between furious and frightened, not that anyone could blame them, watching your teammate nearly die wasn't exactly a positive experience…

It took about fifteen minutes for the arena to be repaired but it felt like an eternity with the depressing aura that now lingered in the stands. It came as a sweet relief when Hayate returned to call out the next fighters, if only because it would give them all something else to focus on.

"Thank you for your patience, we will be moving onto the next match!" Hayate paused double checking to make sure everyone was paying attention before continuing. "Would **Satsuki Uchiha and Ino Yamanaka** make their way down to the arena!" He called.

"Looks like you're up Ino, have fun." Shikari smirked chuckling behind her hand while she watched her blond teammate make a face reminiscent of swallowing a lemon whole, her pretty face scrunched up in sheer disbelief at the unfairness of it all.

Of all the people she could be paired against it had to be Satsuki?! How was that fair?!

Satsuki meanwhile seemed equally as dissatisfied, granted it was for an entirely different reason, but still kept her displeasure hidden for the most part. Only the slight twitching of her brow gave any indication that she was not exactly thrilled to have to fight the Yamanaka. Sakura and Naruto didn't even bother to wish her luck, not because they weren't supportive but this wasn't even going to be a real fight.

Ino wasn't exactly weak but she wasn't a threat to her.

The duo met in the center and it was clear that while Ino wasn't going to back down she also wasn't exactly bursting with confidence, something Satsuki picked up on almost immediately causing her to roll her eyes at the utter waste of time this was going to be.

"If both competitors are ready… you may begin!" Hayta threw his arm down signaling the beginning of the match.

Ino sucked in a breath as she prepared herself, Satsuki had always been an aggressive fighter in the past and so she was expecting her to immediately charge her like she usually did, however, to her surprise the Uchiha did not so much as move an inch. Instead, she merely stood in place seemingly content to watch her from her starting position completely catching her off guard.

Something wasn't right about this… even if the heiress had mellowed out in the past few months it still wasn't in her nature to take things slow, especially not when the battle leaned so heavily in her favor. She focused up and in doing so she felt a slight distortion in her chakra, almost unnoticeable really but the Yamanaka clan were very in-tune with their chakra and immediately she understood what was wrong.

"Kai!" She brought her hands up into the ram sign and quickly flared her chakra, removing the distortion. As soon as she did so the world around her shifted ever so slightly, the change almost imperceivable given that nothing had really changed barring one key feature that was very different, namely the sudden appearance of a sandal covered foot sailing towards her face.

She only just managed to bring her arms up in time to avoid it slamming into her jaw but the impact still sent her skidding back slightly while a grunt of pain exited her lungs. Had that actually hit her head on she may have gone down in that one strike alone, it was only reflex that spared her from that embarrassment.

"Hn, you actually broke out of that… guess you have improved somewhat." Satsuki's slight praise did nothing to detract from the pain in her arms but it did boost her confidence somewhat to know that she'd at least managed to avoid being knocked out in one move. If Forehead could actually win her fight then at the very least she could try and not get immediately taken out.

"I guess Sakura was referring to you before… I guess it makes sense Naruto-baka doesn't have the patience for genjutsu." She joked and to her surprise, Satsuki actually smirked at her commentary. She easily caught the Uchiha sending a brief look up towards the stands where a scowling Uzumaki could be seen flipping her off.

She actually had to fight back a snort at the childish image, those two still couldn't find a way to get along even after all this time. The more things changed the more they stayed the same she supposed.

"Naturally, but even so I hope you don't think breaking out of that is going to change how this ends." Satsuki's humor died down and she leveled her with a serious look, one that spoke volumes about her intentions from here on. "I don't plan on losing here, you know… I hope you understand that."

Ino didn't need to be a genius to figure out that the Uchiha was offering her a chance to give up now, to be spared whatever pain she might inflict in her efforts to win. She also understood that in her own way the heiress had tried to be merciful in granting her a quick and almost painless loss which was rather surprising, part of her assumed that the girl might have actually taken some joy in roughing her up but it appeared that wasn't the case.

Biting her lip as she weighed her options she knew that her chances of victory were slim, a few months of training was simply not enough to make up the gap between them… but she couldn't just hang her head and surrender. She was a kunoichi too, she hadn't come this far just to give up without a fight.

Lost cause or not she still had her pride.

"I understand." Her answer was simple but it conveyed everything she needed it to. Falling into her clan's stance she saw a faint glimmer of respect in the onyx orbs of her opponent as the raven-haired girl dropped into her stance. For a second both just eyed the other and then in a moment, she was set upon by the Uchiha.

It was only thanks to Asuma's increased training over the past few months and her own natural flexibility that she prevented her from being completely overwhelmed. It helped that her clan's fighting style had a heavy emphasis on evasion which combined well with her strengths still Satsuki was faster and while she managed to avoid many hits the ones that did land made her feel like she was being struck with a steel bat.

_Did everyone on that team have to hit like a runaway cart?_

Still, she didn't back down. Since going on the offensive wasn't an option she played defense hard waiting for openings to appear in her opponent's guard she lashed out every so often scoring a few decent hits of her own but those were still too few and far between for her liking.

Satsuki had to admit Ino was actually holding her own decently well. She wasn't going all out obviously but still, she was holding her own and that was more than she'd ever managed in the academy. She supposed if Sakura could improve it wasn't a stretch for Ino to follow suit. She watched as the blond slid under an overhead kick and tried to return fire with a jab to her knee but she quickly pushed herself back with her other foot allowing her to escape.

Ino pushed the opening and kicked off the ground drawing a kunai to her hand she sent a flurry of stabs and slashes her way temporarily putting her on the backfoot as she worked to dodge the blades wide arcs. Watching another swing miss her she quickly grabbed Ino's wrist and squeezed tightly earning a shout of pain from the Yamanaka as she was forced to drop her blade before being silenced by a fist driving crashing into her cheek.

Stunned but not down, Ino grit her teeth and suddenly drove her shoulder into Satsuki using the girl's grip on her arm to force her into the attack. Unfortunately for her, Satsuki was used to such blunt maneuvers and she barely flinched at the impact, instead she pivoted and suddenly Ino found herself being choked out by her own arm while her opponent put pressure on her knees forcing her to the ground and exacerbating the tightness around her throat.

_She needed an out and she needed it now._

Gathering chakra to her free arm she rammed it back with as much force as she could muster and drove her elbow directly into her captors rib cage and despite Satsuki's resilience she couldn't help her body's natural reaction to recoil at the blow and her grip slacked just enough for her to break free and roll away before the Uchiha could recover.

She was suddenly very thankful for her studies on the human body and its functions.

Their brief exchange had left both a bit scuffed but there was no denying that between them Satsuki had taken far less damage than she'd dished out appearing more or less unharmed. She could not claim the same, her breathing was a bit more labored and patches of her skin were now bright angry red from where she'd taken hits and her neck was no doubt in a similar condition. There was nothing to be gained from fighting at close range and she wasn't sure she'd be able to escape again if Satsuki got her hands on her.

Satsuki raised a brow when instead of charging at her Ino's hand suddenly began flashing through a set of seals that were _very _familiar to her and curiosity bubbled within her to see how well the Yamanaka would perform.

"_**Fire Style: Grand Fireball!" **_Ino's chest puffed up as chakra swelled within her lungs before she expelled the gathered energy into a compressed shot of fire, the air around her heating instantly as the jutsu left her lips and began barreling ahead towards the Uchiha heiress who inspected the incoming attack with a mixture of bemusement and slight competitiveness.

"Not bad… but not good enough!" Her own fingers flashed through the same seals but years of practice had drastically cut down the time it took for her to complete her attack. Her own chest bulged and with a far larger release of chakra, she met fire with fire.

The two fireballs slammed into one another in a bright display of light and scorching heat as the churning flames momentarily fought for dominance, Ino's briefly held its ground for a few precious moments before Satsuki's stronger flames eventually devoured those of its rival and pushed onward in a searing torrent, thankfully exploding just a few meters away from the Yamanaka who had already begun creating as much distance between herself and the oncoming flames as possible.

She may have avoided the fire itself but the heated shockwave still managed to knock her off her feet and send her rolling along the floor while also singeing her skin as it passed making the entire ordeal less than pleasant. She didn't even have a chance to get her bearings before being forced to the ground by a foot planting itself upon her back and the sudden coldness of a kunai being placed against her throat greeted her still dazed senses.

"Give up." Satsuki's tone left no room for negotiation or argument and she knew that she was beaten, there was no time to try for a mind transfer and she very much doubted the Uchiha would forgive her for rummaging around in her mind should she break free in time. While she didn't truly believe that her old classmate would use the weapon upon her with intent to kill the protector would likely deem the Uchiha the winner regardless.

She'd given it her best but her best just wasn't enough today.

"I… I forfeit." She sighed conceded the match with as much dignity as she could. At least she tried, no one could say she didn't give it her best shot.

"Winner by surrender, _**Satsuki Uchiha!**_" Hayate announced giving the win to Satsuki who nodded and quickly removed herself from atop the Yamanaka and to Ino's further surprise actually helped her to her feet, dusting her off as she did so. The Uchiha heiress must have noticed her slight shock since she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Don't look so surprised, you weren't _that _bad." She grunted and offered a subtle nod of respect towards the blond as she turned to make her way back to her team. "Also some advice? Next time let the chakra sit for a little bit before letting it out, it helps get a bit more kick out of it." She advised deciding to impart a bit of what she knew. Sort of as a consolation prize for not immediately backing out.

"R-Right, thanks!" Ino wasn't sure what exactly had caused the Uchiha to change so drastically over the course of a couple of months but she hoped whatever it was continued and she wasn't just thinking that because it may have spared her from a far worse beating than she got.

_Well okay, maybe just a bit…_

* * *

**AN. Chapter Complete!**

**Boy do I not like the preliminaries, it's just a huge concentration of one fight scene after the next and that kills me haha. I really can not wait until Shippuden where I can just pull out all the big guns for more flashy battles but until then we'll work with what we've got. Anyway, let's just get to the main notes of the chapter so I can pass out and take a nap!**

**EDIT: Fixed the Lotus, the video I watched to review the fight had them switched, my bad!**

**Firstly, the two fights starting with Gaara/Risa vs. Lee:**

**To start off I do want to say that this is the only prelim fight that will be from canon, all the others I think are fairly obviously new but I did get that question so I wanted to address it. Now with that said I clearly didn't change too much of this fight for two main reasons. Number one being that I personally really like this fight and I didn't want to exclude it because it shows off the best of Lee and Gaara (Risa) in terms of what they value and overall strength. It's a fight that just sticks with you so I wanted to include it here.**

**The number two reason I didn't change it is actually because of Lee. There just isn't a lot of flexibility with a character who can only fight up close fighting someone who is extremely deadly up close. I didn't want to pull Shukaku out here naturally so I just had to settle for slight changes, most of the subtle things were on Risa's end mainly in how she manipulates her sand and her creativity with it which is something I want to expand upon going forward. I know many of you will not like the fact the fight didn't change but since I didn't summarize any of the other fights it felt wrong to do so here.**

**All the fights going forward though (chunin exams) shouldn't have this problem given the structure so I ask that you just bear with it,**

**As for Satsuki vs. Ino:**

**I don't think this one needs a ton of explanation. I was actually going to make this fight much shorter and include a third and final fight for the chapter but that felt like an insult to my goal to at least make the rookies a bit stronger and not sideline them all the time. Ino was never going to beat Satsuki but I did at least want her to put up a small fight and show that she wasn't static.**

**I avoided any mind games since I've done a lot of that recently so again that left Ino sort of pigeonholed into a shorter fight. Maybe in the future, she'll get more time to shine but this was just a bad match for her and an easy one for Satsuki.**

**The last thing I have to talk about today is of course what you have all been waiting for (probably, idk) the results of the poll!**

**I did say that I would be ending the poll in this chapter so long as the results weren't a tie and since I am currently mentioning this I think you can all safely assume that there was not a tie. I do want to take a moment and say a final thanks to everyone who participated either by voting, leaving their reasoning, or sharing ideas it meant a lot to me and I will definitely run polls again when the need arises. **

**With all that said, there is an understanding that one character has to win and one has to lose. I've spoken at length about why we can't have both (read the AN at chapter 20) and the results are based entirely off of the community votes which has nothing to do with me, everyone had the power of only ONE vote so take that knowledge with you.**

**Now as of writing this the grand total of votes sits at 189 total votes across both.**

**Team Tayuya ended with a total of: 85 votes**

**Team Samui ended with a total of: 104 votes**

**This means that Samui has won and will replace Tayuya within the harem so the final girls are:**

**Hinata**

**Kira**

**Shikari**

**Satsuki**

**Haku**

**Risa**

**Samui**

**If you don't like the result I'm sorry but it is out of my hands. I did get a request to reveal who I wanted to win at the end of the voting and I will do that in the next chapter just to give people time to settle with the decision. If you plan to tell me you are going to stop reading now that Samui is in and Tayuya is out then I implore you not to waste the time since like I said it's not a decision for me to change. I did have some other things I wanted to talk about but I think I'll leave those alone for now. My hope is to finish up the rest of the fights in the next chapter and then move onto the month break between the finals. I'll talk more about those plans later though.**

**Thank you as always for reading and I will see you all in the next chapter, whenever that comes out. You are free to review and leave your thoughts and any specific questions can be PM'd to me and I will try and answer those as best I can when I have a chance**

**Later!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but with that said I hope you enjoy the chapter anyway!**

**Hey! Welcome back to yet another chapter! As I've mentioned the chapters are going to be shorter for the foreseeable future given that I'm still in school (even if it's online now) and working so that's just how it is. I did work to get this out faster to compensate though so hopefully that makes up for it a little. This chapter is a bit of a rush to get through the prelims so it's not as fully realized as other chapters but we've spent plenty of time here so I think we can just blitz it through.**

**Anywho, as always I hope you enjoy the chapter and as usual, I'll see you all at the bottom in the author's notes. I do have a question for you all at the bottom so if you are at all interested in sharing your opinions make sure to read the AN.**

* * *

"I'm staying."

Satsuki's glare didn't wane as she stared down Kakashi who in turn was sending her a look of exasperation, the two locked in a semi-heated contest of wills. The cause of which being the Uchiha's sudden unwillingness to go and have her mark sealed off until _after _all the matches had concluded despite their initial plans to seal it off the moment her fight had ended.

"Satsuki be reasonable." He sighed, narrowing his one good eye at the cross-armed ravenette.

"It's not acting up and I barely used any chakra in my fight, I can watch the rest of the matches no problem." She scowled. If she felt fine and was in good condition then as far as she was concerned another hour or two wouldn't kill her. Besides she wasn't exactly in any rush to go back to sleep after having spent the last few days in a coma.

Kakashi's rebuttal was cut off by Hayate announcing the next pair of fighters and by the look on Satsuki's face, she knew that chances were she'd be getting her way regardless. Why he couldn't have gotten easier students was beyond him.

Ah right, he'd failed them all… perhaps he'd been too hasty in doing that…

"Would **Shikari Nara and Shino Aburame** make their way down to the arena." Hayate called bringing everyone's attention back down to the stage eager to see what the two heirs would bring to the table.

Well, everyone baring Shika herself who appeared annoyed at having to fight at all, partially dragging herself down to the arena while Ino who was still in good enough condition to remain and watch over the fights, cheered her on/threatened her into action.

_The dynamic of Team Ten was… interesting to say the least._

Meanwhile, the members of Team Eight were also cheering on their representative though without all the threats.

Shikari sighed as she took her place opposite Shino, this whole thing was a pain in the ass and that wasn't even getting into the shit from before. Honestly, she kinda wanted to just quit and drop this whole thing but Asuma would drill her if she gave up and Ino would have a fit if none of them moved onto the finals. That didn't cover what her mother would do if she found out that she'd dropped out without at least trying.

Why was everyone in her life so damn troublesome?

"Oi, Shino do you think I could just pay you to give up right now? I've got like…" She paused to rummage through her pockets and pulled out some spare change she happened to have on her person "Two thousand yen on me, is that fair?" She asked lazily, scratching the back of her head while the rest of the Konoha teams could only shake their heads and chuckle at the Nara's attempt to weasel her way out of fighting. Asuma could only hide his face in one hand while silencing Ino's screams of disbelief with the other.

Hinata was again coughing into her fist to hide her amusement while Kira openly burst into laughter at the audacity of the request. Kurenai was sending a look of incredulity at the gall while also shooting bemused glances at the bearded Jounin who could only shrug sheepishly as if to say "what can you do".

Shino coughed quietly in surprise but shook his head. "That deal is unfortunately unsatisfactory, should I move on and be promoted the amount of money I'd make would far exceed the amount you are willing to pay me to remain a genin." He replied, causing the girl to suck her teeth in annoyance at the fair and logical answer, she shouldn't have been surprised.

"A simple no would have been enough." She deadpanned.

Hayate decided the banter had gone on long enough. "If you two are done then the match will begin now." He informed them while leaping back to give the two fighters space.

As expected Shino attacked first, he was observant enough to know that despite her attitude Shikari was not one to be fought carelessly. Her slothfulness was the only thing that spared them from her cunning and he wasn't going to allow her time to pull a plan together if he could help it.

Shikari grunted her dissatisfaction but met her opponent halfway engaging him directly in hand to hand combat, or more accurately she allowed him to engage her while she dodged in between his attacks. Like Ino, her family's fighting style was about minimizing damage taken and energy spent while turning their opponent's strengths into their weaknesses.

Between them, she didn't doubt that Shino was the stronger one, he'd probably already reasoned this out since he decided to engage her at close range to start rather than at a distance. He was also at an advantage against her since he was the only one in their class that could fight without moving, meaning that she couldn't rely on just holding him in place either.

He was without question the worst opponent for her to face and odds were he knew that… she hated her life.

Ducking under a punch she quickly bounced away from the Aburame just in time to avoid a face full of bugs. It seemed Shino had begun incorporating his kikaichu into taijutsu coating his hands with the swarming insects meaning if he landed even so much as a glancing blow she was in trouble, the drain on her reserves would limit her options and force her to fight on his terms.

So this would be a game of range and to her annoyance, she was out-gunned here as well Shino had the luxury of being able to command his bugs even while on the move, whereas she had to remain almost completely still to use most of her techniques. For being one of the lesser talked about clans the Aburamae were kind of a giant pain in the ass to fight.

"You know you can buy a lot with two thousand yen right?"

"The answer is still no, Nara-san." Shino raised a hand the insects coating his fingers suddenly swarmed into the air, the not so gentle hum of their beating wings manifesting around them as they gathered into a large mass poised to drown her out made her feel like Shino was perhaps getting annoyed with her attempts to sway him. That idea was confirmed when even more of the kikaichu billowed from his coat creating one large mass over his head that spelled doom for her chances.

"Damn… well alright then." She rubbed her neck and narrowed her eyes, the swarm was massive. Far too large for her to avoid and too dangerous for her to chance ignoring. He was really going for her throat.

_For the throat…_

Reaching into her pouch she pulled out three kunai with paper tags and immediately tossed one right into the mass of insects buzzing towards her.

Behind his shades, Shino narrowed his eyes in anger seeing her plan. She was going to try and burn out his insects with explosives, shrewd and cruel but this was a fight and he understood even if he would hold it absolutly against her. Acting quickly to protect his colony he mentally ordered them to split into two large waves and to rush her.

_**"Kai!"**_ The tag lit up and Shino braced himself for the incoming explosion, his arms already pulling up to shield him from any debris or shrapnel. Had he paid more attention he might have noticed the kanji for "Light" written upon the tag not "Explosion" but by then it was too late.

The room flashed with a bright white light that blinded anyone looking directly at the action, those with dojutsu active were hit even harder and by the sudden influx and even Shino was forced to recoil slightly even if his shades offered him a measure of protection. Shika meanwhile didn't have the luxury of time to wait for her sight to return and so working off memory she quickly enacted her plan the remaining stages of her plan, her hands already forming the seals needed for her next technique.

"_**Shadow Imitation: Split!" **_Unseen by most given the blinding light, her shadow quickly stretched forward before splitting off into two slightly lighter arcs, the inky blackness fading into a dullish grey. The light created from her flash tag also created two large shadows underneath the coming swarm of insects. Using them as a sort of jumping-off point she quickly homed in on where she knew Shino was still standing and she smirked when she felt her shadows "tether" onto his own, the mental tightening of a rope appearing in her mind.

"_**Join!"**_ The two streaks of shadow swiftly snapped back into one single black strand and the drain on her chakra became more intense. The benefit of the split method was it's a slower drain on her reserves and increased movement speed, the came at the equal cost of being far easier to shake off and not granting her total control of her target but she needed to maximize each drop of energy she had for this to work. When the light from her tag faded she would have to use more chakra to maintain the connection but it was a sacrifice she'd have to make.

As the light died down Shino found himself immobilized and frowned as he put together what his opponent had done. Distracting him with his emotional attachment to his hive while playing on his expectations, she knew he'd assume the obvious counter to his insects and he had played right into her hands. But even so, this was still an easy win for him. He could control his kikaichu mentally and he was certain that she knew that, so why bother with this?

"I know what you're thinking Shino even if you won't say it yourself." Shikari relaxed her arms and Shino followed suit now forced to mimic her movements. "The reality is that you are going to win this… if I fight you like a friend." She admitted and her eyes suddenly hardened as she formed a new seal.

Shino grunted as his shadow slowly began to wind up his leg, the streak of pitch-black darkness slowly taking shape into what resembled a hand, one that was now crawling its way up to his torso. His body trembled as he fought back against whatever she was trying to do but his attempts were only slowing the process, not enough to completely halt it. His only hope was to drain her and so once more he commanded his swarm to attack.

"I wouldn't do that Shino." She hissed, the beating wings of the kikaichu drawing closer, the hum buzzing in her ears. "Concede right now." She ordered and he frowned at the unusual amount of authority in her voice, causing him to pull back his swarm just feet away from enveloping her.

"There is… no reason for me… to do that." He had to pause between words as he continued to fight against the hand that was now slowly approaching his neck, shadow fingers flexing in anticipation as they neared his windpipe prompting him to struggle harder.

"Oh, I think there is. Let me help you see it." She grunted exertion heavy in her voice but she still managed to tilt her head up towards the ceiling and even as the grip of her shadow became tighter he was still forced to pull his own head up in response. His eyes widened when he saw what she was talking about…

The remaining two kunai were embedded into the ceiling above him each with a single paper tag attached bearing the kanji for explosives attached to the hilt. If she detonated them the debris would almost certainly crush him while he was left defenseless.

"How much damage do you think concrete falling from that height will do, Shino?" She forced him to face her again and she gave him a hard look. "Do you think you can walk that off and can you make that choice before I choke you out?" The hand that was now closing around his neck squeezed tight and he gave out a choking gasp in reply.

"You… wouldn't…" He grunted, they were allies she wouldn't go that far.

"I'm a girl with a nagging Yamanaka for a teammate, I'm running on almost no sleep, low chakra, and I have very little time to play around." She leveled him with an unsympathetic stare even as sweat rolled down her brow showing that it was taking all she had to keep him locked down. "I'm willing to do what it takes to get some damn peace, so I will say this one more time. Give up." She repeated.

Shino went silent for a moment weighing his options. He could try and call her bluff but he wasn't sure she wasn't actually serious and they were still in a competitive setting, those tags could be fake or they could be real and he'd be buried under the rubble if he guessed wrong. He could try and wait for her out but if he stalled she still might detonate the tags anyway and that didn't even get into the fact that his vision was starting to go dark from her hold around his neck.

He could have his insects move to catch the debris but that left him open to her any attack, even a single kunai could do him in like this. She had him right where she wanted him, between some falling rocks and a hard place.

"I… concede…" He grunted out.

"Winner by forfeit,_** Shikari Nara!**_" Hayate announced giving the victory to the Nara heiress.

The moment she heard her win she dropped the connection and fell on her ass, she was nearly out of chakra and had he held on for even a few more minutes her plans would have gone to hell. She was lucky she had her father's poker face…

"I was not expecting such ruthlessness out of you, Nara-san." Shino stood in front of her with a hand outstretched for her to take. She didn't complain and took it gladly, allowing him to help her to her feet and keeping her steady until she found her balance.

"Good because that would have ruined the whole thing since I was talking out my ass." She sighed, cracking her neck. "Deception being a ninja's greatest asset and all that jazz, but it was a good match still, let's swear to never do it again okay?"

She planned to never fight Shino again if she could help it, she'd rather have gotten anyone else.

"You vex me greatly Nara-san."

"I'll take that as a compliment." She yawned leaving him behind as she made her way to her team and leaving Shino by himself with a single lesson imparted from the whole affair.

_Never underestimate a Nara…_

Hayate chuckled a bit to himself as he watched the pair make their way back up to the stands. It was always interesting to watch a Nara perform, he always thought they would make incredible showmen if they didn't find doing any sort of work tedious. He also sometimes forgot how scary they could be when pushed. He knew Yugao would have a laugh when he told her about this later. For now, he had another match to preside over.

"Would **Tenten and Naruto Uzumaki **make their way down to the arena." He announced calling the next contenders.

…

He grinned and punched a fist into his open palm, finally! With so few fighters left he was starting to get concerned he'd be the last to go but he was happy to be proven wrong. He was also itching for a proper fight after that second phase, there was a difference between a good challenge and fighting for your life.

"Don't go and embarrass yourself, idiot." Satsuki grunted, eyeing up the bun haired girl making her way down the steps to the arena. "I expect you to pass so I can fight you and Sakura in the finals and I'll deny ever knowing you if you lose." She threatened.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the Uchiha's roundabout way of wishing him luck but didn't comment on it. That was just how they supported one another she supposed, she didn't fully get it but if it worked then who was she to say anything.

"She's Lee's teammate so don't take her lightly." She warned him. Without knowing how Lee stacked up to his team she couldn't discount the idea that all of Team Guy were monsters in combat and she didn't want to see him carted away because he got overconfident. "Good luck."

"Right, don't worry I got this!" He nodded before hopping down from the railing and onto the floor below and making his way to the center of the arena taking his place across from his opponent.

…

"One of the rookies eh, you must be pretty lucky to have made it this far on your first go-around but that luck ends here." Tenten leveled him with an impressed grin and he had to hold back rolling his eyes at the idea they had gotten lucky. He didn't know in what universe having a creep like Orochimaru on your tail counted as "lucky" but he held his tongue.

It's not like he could really talk about the incident.

Maybe, or maybe we're just that good? Guess you'll find out." He rebutted not at all perturbed by her confidence. "I just hope that extra year you have on us means you'll be worth the time." He sent a cheeky grin back in response and internally he had to hold back a laugh at the slight twitch of her brow. It seemed she had a bit of an ego.

"Begin!"

Hayate's signal was all the prompting his opponent needed to go on the offensive and he quickly found himself leaping out of the way just in time to avoid being stabbed by the swarm of shuriken she launched his way. Retaliating with his own flurry of steel stars he was surprised that rather than dodging she instead managed to redirect each of his stars with ones of her own, their combined weaponry falling to the ground between them.

Okay, that was a bit impressive but that wasn't going to be enough to win either but it seemed like Tenten was well aware of this. He watched her reach into her pouch and pull out two large scrolls twirling them between her fingers before rushing forward towards him. He tensed as the rolls of parchment unfurled revealing them to be storage scrolls each with the kanji for a different type of weapon and her hands glided over two in particular from each.

Twin puffs of smoke dissipated to reveal that her hands were not occupied by twin blades, large curved swords gripped tightly in hand as she crossed the distance between them and aimed an arcing slash at his body. He wasted no time in ducking under the blow and lashing out with a kick but she blocked it with the flat side of her second blade and returning fire with another slash that he just barely managed to avoid. She kept up the pace and soon enough the two were weaving around the arena in a deadly dance of blades and fists but her weapons have her the slight edge she needed to keep him on the defensive.

_He was at a disadvantage here, her range was longer than his with those scimitars and she only needed one good blow to seriously injure him… _

Sliding past a poorly timed thrust he quickly grabbed her by the arm and used her momentum against her to toss her away from him, his superior strength managing to pry her off the ground with relative ease and with her grip on her weapons preventing her from holding onto him he managed to create that needed space between them.

This maneuver didn't seem to discourage her however.

"Want some distance, eh? Well, try stopping this then!" Tenten dropped her blades to the ground and pulled out her scrolls once more, using the momentum of his toss to carry her she quickly began launching an array of bladed weapons towards him ranging from the usual kunai and shuriken to almost outlandish weapons like clubs, sickles, maces, and a flail for kami's sake! Yet somehow her accuracy was still perfect despite half of her armory not even consisting of throwing weapons.

_He'd give her props for that._

"_**Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"**_ His cheeks puffed up as the gale forces left his throat and barreled into the hailstorm of weaponry approaching him completely knocking her barrage apart and slamming into her sending her flying back towards the outer walls of the arena.

Tenten winced as she landed, she'd only just had enough time to bring her arms up for a meager defense before the wind tunnel had smashed into her launching her back closer to the walls of the arena. Thankfully she wasn't really harmed but she was now more wary of her opponent, she didn't think he'd have such an effective counter to her weapons in his pocket. She wasn't sure how many times he could pull that move off either or what else he had tucked away.

He smirked as he watched his opponent's expression shift from one of confidence to slight trepidation. It was becoming abundantly clear that she was a weapon expert, a damn good one at that but he was probably the worst opponent she could face barring maybe Risa or that Temari girl. In their brief taijutsu exchange, he noticed her attacks were more about technique than power, her weapons making up for her lack of strength and hinting that she was likely less physically capable than her two teammates. She was more than likely the ranged fighter of their squad.

This fight was over the moment it began, drawing this out would only be a waste of time.

Tenten's eyes widened as the blond suddenly disappeared from her sight, the only hint that he'd been there at all was the slight dust kicked up in his place before she was suddenly struck with a numbing pain in the back of her head. Her hands twitched as her grip on her scrolls loosened and her eyes rolled into the back of her head, her body slumping forward unceremoniously to the ground.

_She was out like a light._

"Winner by knockout, **Naruto Uzumaki!**" Hayate announced.

Grinning at his victory he was still nice enough to help load the unconscious team onto the stretcher for the medics before making his way back up to the stands where his teammates were waiting for him.

"That was disappointing, but at least you didn't screw it up." Satsuki offered a nod of approval and a slight smirk knowing that they were currently the only team to have each of their members make it to the finals so far. The only other team that might be able to match them was the team from Suna who still had one fighter left to go.

"Not my fault, I think she would have done well against someone else." He shrugged. He was happy that he'd won but also a bit upset that he hadn't had to try very much, at least for the finals he knew that he would get a good fight in so he held off on complaining too much. He also understood that there was now a good chance he'd have to fight Sakura or Satsuki to advance, something they were both well aware of by now.

"Would _**Hinata Hyuga and Sabaku no Kankuro**_ make their way down to the arena!"

Naruto turned his attention to the arena and let out a loud cheer for his friend, one that was mirrored by Kira who was rooting for the petite Hyuga heiress to "Kick his sandy ass". Let it never be said that Inuzuka lacked heart.

Hinata rolled her eyes at her teammate and sent a beaming smile to her friend as she made her way down to face her opponent. Having seen what both of his teammates were capable of she knew that she had to be careful and that there was likely more to him than she could see at first glance.

Kankuro for his part gave little away other than the ever so slight twitch of his fingers that signified her was ready for combat.

Seeing both contestants weren't exactly roaring to exchange words Hayate decided that they should get to it.

"Begin!"

The moment the words left his mouth the smile on Hinata's face dropped and the veins around her eyes bulged signifying the activation of the Hyuga clan's famed Byakugan. The world around her shifted into grayscale colors bleeding into shades of grey, white, and black with the sole exception of the bodies around her that now shined a bright azure.

All but one… the one standing right in front of her.

She tilted her head just centimeters to the side allowing the kunai that had been thrown her way to sail by harmlessly before she rushed forward towards the catsuit wearing genin. He brought his arms up in defense but to his shock, she did not attack him directly as he'd expected and instead leaped over him using his shoulders to swing herself up and around to his back.

Fingertips bleeding with chakra shot forward and seemed to strike at… nothing? Spectators watched in bewilderment as Hinata seemed to shadowbox the air around Kankuro rather than make use of her openings to strike him head-on.

If she could sense their confusion she didn't show it keeping her attention focused solely on the task at hand. She used her chakra like scalpels to cut away at the many blue ribbons that surrounded 'Kankuro', severing the complex network of strings as she glared into the bundle resting upon his back.

To the spectators, Kankuro seemed to suddenly lurch for a moment appearing to have lost his balance before suddenly collapsing to the floor in an unmoving heap for no discernable reason. She hadn't so much as touched him, why had he collapsed?

Hinata, however, didn't seem satisfied just yet and she quickly fell upon the bundle that Kankuro had dropped during his fall attacking it with such ferocity that even those who were familiar with her were taken aback. It wasn't in her nature to attack a downed opponent but yet she did not stop fingertips jabbing the wrapped up bundle with near surgical precision.

Then abruptly she stopped. The bulges around her eyes receded and her stance relaxed.

"That match is over Proctor-san he will not be getting up anytime soon." She relayed as she knelt down over the slumped over form of "Kankuro" pulling the boy's boy up revealing his face, a face that was now chipped and cracked from its abrupt meeting with the floor.

She peeled back the flakes and revealed a disturbing underside, hand-carved wooden features, and fake glassy eyes came to light and clued those in who were more familiar with Suna's secrets of what had likely transpired.

Hinata clicked her teeth and dropped the body unceremoniously before turning to the bundle and with a single kunai, cut through the thick bandages like paper unveiling the mysterious bundle to be… another Kankuro? The Suna genin's face was scrunched up in pain and he was near unresponsive as he was forced to lay helplessly upon the floor while she stood over him.

"You could never hide from my eyes, you should have fought me more directly maybe then you might not have lost as quickly." She gave a pleasant smile that sent shivers down his spine but he could not say anything, she held every advantage. "It's a shame but I suppose it was just your unfortunate luck to have me as an opponent."

Hayate waited for a moment to see if the genin had anything left to give but it became clear that he was out of options without his puppet and his chakra and so after a short mental countdown he called it.

"Winner by incapacitation, **Hinata Hyuga!**"

Hinata smirked and made her way back to her team leaving the stage clear for the last fight of the preliminaries.

"Would **Dosu Kinta and Neji Hyuga** make their way down to the arena."

The announcement was unneeded as both had begun making their way even before they'd been called having kept track of the matches in their heads and quickly narrowing down their finalist positions. Neither said a word to the other as they simply glared into the eyes of their opponent and waited for Hayate's signal to begin.

It was almost like a final gambit for their respective teams, neither of their teammates had advanced to the final stage and this would be their last chance to both save face and earn a chance at promotion. The need for words was not necessary, they both understood what was at stake.

"Begin!"

Both sprung into action immediately. Neji charged forward to close the distance while Dosu began to swing his arms in the direction of the approaching Hyuga, the gauntlet glowing very faintly with streams of chakra as he did so but otherwise not much seemed to come from the mummified sound-nin's attack. It came as a surprise then when Neji suddenly ground to a halt gripping his head in pain and stumbling back seemingly disoriented.

Dosu wanted to capitalize on this and quickly dashed in to try and finish the fight quickly but even while disoriented was not a taijutsu expert for nothing and still managed to deflect the incoming attack before retaliating with a few jabs to the sound-nin's chest before the two sprung back and once more glared at one another from across the field.

Dosu narrowed his eye and charged his gauntlet again, something Neji noticed as he focused his sight on the chakra running through him. Watching the chakra gather towards his opponent's arms he quickly put two and two together and realized that the source of that first hit was likely something to do with that gauntlet.

He waited for Dosu to attack and sure enough, Dosu swung his arm again and he watched the chakra he'd gathered disperse suddenly before a new wave of nausea hit and he was nearly forced to the ground. He grit his teeth as the ground beneath him was painted red with a few drops of what he realized was blood. His bandaged fingers coming up to his nose where a trail of the life giving liquid was dripping freely from his nostrils.

He hadn't seen anything meaning whatever that attack was it wasn't entirely chakra based in nature. That confirmed to him that the gauntlet was the key.

He pushed himself to his feet and fought to maintain his balance. Stabilizing himself he raced forward again this time enhancing his speed to close the gap before his opponent could charge another attack slipping into his guard something that Dosu wasn't ready for given the widening of his single eye but by then it was too late and he'd already begun working on disabling the biggest obstacle to his victory.

Chakra coated fingertips slammed into the tenketsu leading to the gauntlet, the flow of chakra in that arm fizzling out as he forcibly closed the network off with a few well placed blows. Dosu hissed in pain from a combination of pain from the strikes and the sudden numbness in his arm but he felt panic grip him when he realized that his main weapon was cut off.

Neji spared him not even a pitying glance as he went to work picking him apart. Without his gauntlet to aid him the sound-genin just couldn't keep up in a pure taijutsu fight and Neji refused to allow him to create any distance ensuring the fight continued on his terms. It took Neji mere minutes to shut down nearly all the tenketsu in Dosu's body before a final palm strike launched him sprawled out onto his back where Neji then pinned him.

It was a blowout match.

"Winner, **Neji Hyuga!**"

"As expected." Were the only words out of the Hyuga's mouth as he left his sprawled out opponent behind and returned to his teammates' side. Dosu had to be escorted out by medics who were not working to return his chakra circulation and help ease the numbing pain of the Gentle Fist.

With that, the preliminaries had come to a close and so the victors were drawn back down to the center of the arena to receive further instruction.

...

"Congratulations on making it this far, you've all fought hard and now only one more challenge awaits you on your path to becoming chunin." Hayate coughed out his congrats before pulling out a simple box with a hole at the top. "You each will reach into this box and draw a number, the order of the numbers will determine your opponent for the finals, there will be a month break before the finals begin so you will have plenty of time to think of how best to approach your fight." He explained.

With the instructions clear each of the chunin hopefuls stepped forwards and one at a time reached in and drew a single slip of paper with a number on it.

"If you would read your numbers aloud we will now create the matchups."

Naruto nodded and opened his slip of paper where the number one was printed in bold ink.

"I've got one." He spoke up, figuring this was going to go in order and he held up his slip to prove his word.

"Ha! I got two!" Kira's pleased voice barked up from the side as she held up a slip with the number two printed on it. "Guess that means it's you and me whiskers!" She grinned fully riled up now and he matched her smirk with one of his own. He shouldn't be surprised that she was his opponent but he knew that he was in for a good fight if nothing else.

"Better bring your best Kibble, I won't hold back on you."

"I'll rip you apart if you do!" She promised.

Temari then spoke up showing her own slip of paper. "I have number three." She revealed stepping forward to see who her opponent would be.

"Hn, I've got four." Satsuki held up her own slip revealing a bold four and the two kunoichi locked eyes in a brief staring contest before backing down to allow the rest of the contestants to find their match.

"This is so annoying, I've got five." Shikari yawned.

Sakura nodded and held up her paper. "I got six." She said relaxing a bit at now that she knew she wasn't up against either of her teammates or the monstrous girl from Suna. She wasn't close with Shikari but they were still on friendly terms for the most part. Still, the Nara had proven that she wasn't going to go down easy so she couldn't afford to slack off.

Hinata stepped up next and revealed her number. "It seems I got seven"

Neji stepped forward and showed his own. "Eight"

The two Hyuga locked eyes and those paying enough tension caught the look of worry on the Heiress's face and the subtle hint of anger that flashed in the older genin's gaze before the duo backed away. There was some history there but to what extent was only known between them.

Risa cracked open her eyes and showed her own sheet. "Nine."

Hayate nodded having written down the names as the numbers were announced. "Thank you, the matchups will be as follows."

"Round one will be _**Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kira Inuzuka!**_"

"Round two will be _**Sabaku no Temari vs. Satsuki Uchiha!**_"

"Round three will be_** Shikari Nara vs. Sakura Haruno!**_"

"Round four will be _**Hinata Hyuga vs. Neji Hyuga!**_"

"And lastly the winner of round one will face _**Sabaku no Risa!**_"

Hayate nodded. "That concludes the preliminaries, as I said before you all will one month to prepare yourselves before the finals, you will have eyes all over the world watching you so make sure you are ready to perform." He gave them those final parting words before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

_It was going to be a busy month for them all._

...

"I have to say that I am extremely proud of each of you for making it this far." Kakashi said as he led his team out of the forest and back to the village. "It's very rare for an entire team to make it to the finals but you three have a habit of breaking expectations."

Naruto and Sakura grinned happily at the praise and even Satsuki allowed a small smirk to settle upon her face. They'd gone through a lot of crap to make it this far and now that end was in sight they couldn't help but be proud of themselves and while Kakashi wasn't stingy with praise, he never gave it out if he didn't mean it.

"We can't be stopped!" Naruto declared pumping his fist in victory.

"Clearly, but that also leaves us in a very unique position." Kakashi's tone switched from jovial to serious and his genin knew that now was the time to listen in. "You all are now competing against one another meaning that you all likely won't be training together to keep an element of surprise which also means that I can't train you all."

Their eyes widened at that bit of information.

"While I could send clones with you all I don't want to give any of you an advantage over the others so I will only be training one of you." He gave them a sideways glance and held up a single hand to stop any coming protests. "That said I will not be leaving any of you high and dry or on your own." He finished cutting off any complaints.

"Really?" Satsuki gave her sensei a skeptical look knowing that it was only recently that he'd taken his job as their instructor seriously.

In response, he merely rolled his single good eye at her disbelief. He may have had trouble with this whole teaching thing at the beginning but he was getting better, at least he thought so…

"Ignoring your tone..." He shot her a look. "You all will have proper teachers for the month that much I can assure you of." He promised, they'd all earned a fair shot at their promotion so the least he could do is ensure they all received decent training even if he didn't think they needed it all that much.

"So who will you be training sensei?" Sakura asked curiously to see which of them would end up with him.

"Given the circumstances, I will be the one handling Satsuki's training." He revealed bluntly, causing said Uchiha to curse quietly under her breath. She knew that he was going to run her ragged and she hadn't exactly been buttering him up over the past few days either… at least she'd be getting stronger though so she'd suck it up.

Sakura and Naruto nodded, while they were a bit put off that they wouldn't be training under him they could understand the reasons. Kakashi was the only one currently who could answer any questions about her sharingan and with Orochimaru skulking about it was better for her to be with someone who would be capable of defending her.

"Sakura you will be contacted by your instructor in the coming days, she's a bit on the serious side but she's very skilled and you'll benefit greatly from her instruction if you apply yourself." He informed the pinkette who nodded in affirmative.

He then turned to the final member of his team and addressed him. "As for you Naruto, your trainer has left instructions for you to meet him at the Hokage's office in two days so be prepared." He said and Naruto saluted in understanding already conjuring up mental images of what his trainer might be like.

"Good, with all that out the way you and Sakura are free to go. _Princess_ here, however, has a date with a hospital bed." He chirped cheerfully, laying an iron tight grip on the rebellious heiress's shoulder much to her visible displeasure.

Naruto and Sakura couldn't help but snicker at the look of utter loathing Satsuki sent his way, a small part of them pitied the girl.

_Only a small part though._

...

"I'm home!" He shouted kicking off his shoes as he entered his little apartment for the first time in what felt like a month, the once familiar smell of his own home seeming foreign after his time in the forests but he welcomed it like an old friend nonetheless.

"Naruto-sama!"

He blanched as Haku rocketed out from the back and barreled into him nearly knocking him to the floor in her excitement. He blinked owlishly at the hearty greeting but did not admonish her for it instead returning the embrace with a slight smile, he didn't think she'd miss him so much. For what it was worth he'd missed her as well so he couldn't deny he was happy to see her as well.

Haku let out a content sigh as she once more had the pleasure of her master's presence at her side. It was… difficult for her without him, not that she doubted his ability but she could not interfere with his test meaning that she could not protect him. She'd become somewhat restless as of late but none of that mattered now that he was here again.

_If he had not returned…_

"It is good to have you back, Naruto-sama." She broke their embrace and looked him over, he looked a bit ragged and despite his efforts, she could see that he was tired no doubt exhausted from being out so long. She wouldn't be surprised if he collapsed at some point during the day even with his seemingly endless stamina.

"It's good to be back Haku-chan." He smiled and the two made their way into the apartment. "How have things been while I was away? He asked.

"Quiet, but I have a feeling things will not stay that way now that you've returned. I suppose the peace had to end eventually." She teased taking joy in the pout he sent her way, she'd missed that childishness of his that was so rare in their world. It was one of her favorite qualities in him and part of the reason she teased him so relentlessly.

"Mou, that's mean Haku-chan!" He whined.

"But am I wrong?" She pushed, giggling softly as he huffed and turned away from her but she could see his shoulders shaking with hidden amusement telling her that he took offense from her playful jab and that it was all in good fun. He was so different from Zabuza but not in a bad way...

Smirking to herself she quickly tiptoed over to him while he was looking away and suddenly leaned over pressing herself against his back, her lips brushing ever so gently against his ear sending shivers down his spine. She bit back a laugh as he predictably stiffened at her touch but her training was more than enough to keep her in line for the moment.

"Forgive me Naruto-sama that was cruel of me…" She practically purred in his ears and could almost feel the heat radiating off his face at the sudden contact. "Perhaps I can welcome you back in a much more _appropriate _way~" She whispered a mixture of apologetic earnestness in her voice that was not matched by the way hands began to roam across his chest.

"Would you like that more, _master?~"_

_His shouts of embarrassment would be heard across the village proving her right in the end._

* * *

**AN. Chapter Complete!**

**So as I said before my goal for this chapter was mainly to wrap up the prelims by getting the last of the fights out of the way so that we could move onto the month gap, the finals, and everything else following that. With that said I recognize that some may feel like a lot of this feels a bit rushed and I can admit that but I tried to make matchups the clearly favored one fighter over another to at least make it feel real with the exception of Shikari's fight which I had to put some more thought into and take some liberties with. That said**** I will be fully realizing the fights in the finals so this won't happen again. It helps that there are also fewer fights overall!**

**Anyway, let's talk about some stuff:**

**Starting off I'd like to address the status of Tayuya for this fic since I got a lot of questions since the results of the poll were revealed (check the AN of the last chapter if you haven't seen the results). A few people have reached out through either PM or reviews asking me if I would at least do something else with Tayuya if she wouldn't be the harem. Specifically either making her an Uzumaki or a love interest for another character and so I wanted to talk about this overall and get my thoughts out there. **

**I am not really a fan of doing either of these for a couple of reasons. The largest of which being that if I brought her into the story it would essentially be an unnecessary character that suddenly has to be added to the extensive cast that already exists. That is not a dig at her in some mean way but rather it would be adding her for the sake of adding her when she'll more than likely end up like Amagi, a character who is around but isn't doing anything in the story and for people that like her I don't think they'd love that.**

**Making her a main character just goes back to her being around for the sake of it and with my plans there will be enough characters to balance. As for her being a love interest for someone else, this has some of the same problems. The only characters I could pair her with that have any story value are not really even main characters such as Shino and Choji and while I've had a few people suggesting putting her with Sakura, that isn't happening here.**

**(As a note Sakura is not being paired with Ino either, I'm not sure if I've made it seem like that with their interactions but that isn't their relationship in this fic lol)**

**So while I'm not confirming anything right now I do want to set expectations that she'll more than likely play her role then exit the story.**

**Next up, I said I would reveal who I wanted to win the poll and why so I will do that:**

**So being upfront when I really thought about the options I ended up settling that I was more team Samui than Tayuya for a couple of reasons. I like Tayuya and would have been fine with her winning but I also feel that the best stories with her are either solo pairings or very small harems (three girls max) where she can be really fleshed out and the focus is on her and how she develops. Samui may not be as interesting in terms of options but she can be done to play off Naruto very well and Kumo is my second favorite village so with her in I get a good excuse to explore Kumo and its characters who are also some of my favorites in the series. I also don't see her done as often in more traditional stories (mostly see her in smutty fics) so expanding on her here would be a nice contribution.**

**So with all the poll stuff laid out let's talk about the last thing I wanted to ask you all:**

**I'm thinking about changing Naruto's summons and have some ideas written down but I would like to hear your ideas about summons that you think would be an interesting choice, I like the toads but there is no harm in changing them to something else.**

**With that said feel free to leave some ideas in your reviews or PM them to me. I only have a few rules/notes about suggestions though.**

**1\. No mythical creatures (dragons, hydras, phoenixes, etc). The reason being I don't want to give him a broken summon or the "no one has called us in a thousand years, welcome chosen one" sort of deal. Rare creatures are fine and even extinct creatures to a point are fine.**

**2\. Not foxes, nothing against them but that feels far too easy and almost stereotypical for him.**

**3\. The summon doesn't have to be super offensive. I don't mind giving him summons that play support roles or utility roles.**

**4\. The summon should fit him somewhat meaning clans like the snakes would be out (other reptiles would be fine)**

**So if you have any you'd like to suggest let me know otherwise I'll just go with my list or leave him toads. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you in the next one, stay safe and be careful out there!**


	32. An Update

**Hello!**

**It certainly has been a while since we last spoke and for that, I apologize, before I begin I want to say that sincerely do hope all of you have been staying safe with everything going on in the world. With that said I now also want to talk about where I have been in regard to this story (and my other stories to be fair) and what the status of this story is for the people were wondering given how long it's been since the last chapter.**

**To start with I want to make it clear that this story HAS NOT been abandoned and I do plan to come back to it! I know that was a concern for some people based on a few PMs I received and I just need to make that clear. I would have done a full-on announcement if that was the case so please do not think that I've just left the story to rot on its own or anything. This, of course, begs a question then, if the story has not been abandoned where is the next chapter?**

**Well, stuff happened. Nothing bad I assure you but just other things that captured my interests. If you somehow haven't seen it or don't pay attention to other stories I post then you might not know that I started my second, pure Naruto story. This one is sort of a culmination of everything I've learned and everything I wanted ABP to be from the outset but didn't have the skill or knowledge to pull off and I've been having a really good time with it as have readers. Given that I am someone who writes whatever I feel really strongly for, most of my time has gone into working on that for the moment.**

**That is not to say I haven't written anything for my other fics but I've never been a fan of forcing a story/chapter out just because I "need to". If there isn't sufficient passion or creativity to it then I find I can barely write at all and I just end up unhappy with whatever I produce.**

**With all that said, you probably don't care very much about all that and just want to know when can you expect the next chapter of this and the answer to that is… I don't really know. It is a terrible answer I'm aware but I don't know when exactly the next update will be ready since I don't know when that second wind will hit. That said, I do wanna talk about more cheerful news in regards to this fic and something that could very well turn my interests again and that is your answers to the question I asked last time!**

**So last time I asked you all about changing Naruto's summons and by and large it seemed as if a majority of people were into the idea and you all had plenty of suggestions. Given that I have picked some of the more popular ones and would like to get your opinions on those that have made it into my sort of final round of consideration.**

**To those that disagreed with the idea, I may have PM'd you a response so check your inbox**

**Anywho, the list of final options is shaping up to be:**

**Big Cats: (Lions, tigers, possibly sabertooth)**

**Komodo Dragons: (Those big beefy bois)**

**Elephants: (Which surprised the hell out of me but they showed up a lot lol)**

**Honey Badgers: (Little tanky bois)**

**Hyenas: (Might be a fun pack summon)**

**Jellyfish: (I admit this one made me laugh and then I thought about and realized how terrifying this is, I didn't realize there was a species that was an about as long as a blue whale)**

**Manta Rays/Sting Rays: (Another fun aquatic animal) **

**Now, there were a lot of suggestions and I know some people might be disappointed they don't see their suggestions but I did and get the more popular choices and some of the more popular/unique thematic suggestions in as well such as water-based creatures for the whole Uzumaki heritage thing. For everyone who wanted DInosaurs, believe me, I understand why and in almost any other fic I might have caved to that but that leaned a bit too hard into the realm of a bit silly for me lol**

**Anyway do let me know which you like most from the list above, I think they all have their uses both in and out of combat so I'd like to hear your thoughts. I also admit that having a better idea of which animal to go might help propel me to write the chapter faster so there is that *nudge nudge* **

**Anyway, sorry to have gotten any hopes up but I do want to get back to this soon. I just need to get in the right mood. As always it was great to talk with you all and again I hope you are staying safe!**


End file.
